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LYOF-N^TC 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 


Gerhard  Klein 


Colstoi 

Resurrection 


Jletogorfe 

.  Crofoell  Companp 


RESURRECTION 


BY 


LYOF  N.  TOLSTOI 


TRANSLATED  BY 
ALINE  P.  DELANO 


NEW  YORK 
THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


GIFT 


COPYRIGHT,  1911, 
BY  THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  &  CO. 


PREFACE 

IT  would  be  a  task  of  literary  supererogation  to  point 
out  in  detail  the  aims  that  Tolstoi  pursued  in  writing  the 
last  of  his  great  trilogy,  "Resurrection."  The  "Great 
Writer  of  the  Russian  Land,"  as  Tourgu£nef  was  the  first 
to  call  him,  had  devoted  his  whole  life  to  the  betterment, 
the  uplift,  of  his  fellow-men.  The  two  preceding  prose 
epopees,  "War  and  Peace"  and  "Anna  Kare*nina, " 
may  be  likened  to  huge  canvases  on  which  the  portraits 
of  Russian  men  and  women  stand  out  in  amazing  clear 
ness.  "  One  may  walk  all  around  them, "  we  may  say, 
using  the  definition  of  a  little  girl's  preference  for 
sculpture. 

In  "Resurrection,"  as  in  all  his  writings,  Tolstoi  dis 
played  his  absorbing  interest  in  humanity.  Endowed 
with  a  microscopic  power  of  observation,  he  described 
personal  and  mental  characteristics  with  so  fine  a  touch 
that  every  man  and  woman,  principal  or  subordinate, 
lives  and  moves  before  our  eyes.  We  hear  them  speak, 
rejoice  in  their  joys;  we  grieve  for  their  sorrows,  we 
sympathize  with  their  hopes  and  fears,  we  venture  to 
peer  into  the  depth  of  their  souls. 

The  contention  of  the  novelist's  opponents  is  that  in 
"Resurrection"  Tolstoi  aimed  at  undermining  popular 
confidence  in  the  system  of  trial  by  jury,  and  that  by  the 
unveiling  of  irremediable  social  evils  he  played  into  the 
hands  of  the  reactionists.  These  critics,  however,  must 
admit  that  the  author  not  only  stirred  the  slough  of  men 
tal  inertia  in  which  many  of  us  spend  our  lives  and  made 
his  way  into  the  very  depths  of  human  hearts,  but  that 
he  threw,  in  this  powerful  work,  a  searchlight  on  that 
milieu  which  had  remained  untouched  since  it  had  been 


929 


vi  PREFACE 

portrayed  by  the  pen  of  DostSevsky.  Dost&evsky  pic 
tured  Siberian  convict  life;  Tolstoi  shows  us  the  prison 
life  in  the  heart  of  Russia  and  the  transportation  of  con 
victs  to  Siberia.  Here  also  we  have  portrayed  the  type 
of  the  political  prisoner. 

At  the  time  of  its  appearance  in  Russia  in  1899, 
"  Resurrection "  was  awaited  with  breathless  expecta 
tion.  The  Sage  of  Yasnaya-Polyana  had  not  only  won 
his  way  into  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  but  was  the 
only  defender  of  their  few  remaining  rights,  which  the 
reactionary  policy  of  the  government  was  curtailing  and 
withdrawing.  And  strange  as  it  may  seem,  both  revo 
lutionists  and  government  looked  to  him  for  approval 
and  moral  support.  As  an  advocate  of  peace,  of  giving 
Caesar  what  was  due  him,  the  Russian  government  found 
an  ally  in  Tolstoi  and  his  theory  of  non-resistance.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  younger  generation,  as  well  as  the 
liberal  and  educated  classes  of  Russia,  appealed  to  him 
as  the  only  man  whose  talents,  sympathy,  and  world 
wide  influence  had  been  repeatedly  used  in  their  defense, 
— whose  voice  was  fearlessly  lifted  in  behalf  of  the  op 
pressed  and  whose  social  standing  allowed  him  to  expose 
the  "lawlessness"  of  the  government. 

"Resurrection"  appeared  in  the  Niva,  a  popular 
Russian  magazine.  But  in  that  publication  all  denunci 
ations  of  government  officials,  whole  chapters  relating  to 
the  dogmas  and  forms  of  the  Greek  Church,  and  all 
allusions  to  illicit  government  measures  were  carefully 
expunged.  Needless  to  say,  in  the  present  edition  care 
has  been  taken  to  include  all  of  Tolstoi's  work  as  it  stood 
originally. 

The  all-powerful  Procurator  of  the  Holy  Synod 
could  easily  recognize  his  portrait  in  one  of  the  char 
acters,  and  Tolstoi's  realistic  pen  did  not  hesitate  to 
depict  what  influence  was  used  to  promote  unworthy 
causes.  On  the  other  hand,  the  cause  of  the  revolution, 
so  dear  to  the  hearts  of  Russian  youth,  was  not  upheld 


PREFACE  vii 

as  the  desideratum  of  Russia's  destiny,  even  though  some 
of  its  representative  types  were  treated  with  tender  sym 
pathy  and  consideration, — as,  for  instance,  Madam  Vera 
Figner  as  Bogodiihovsky. 

The  great  corner-stone  of  "Resurrection"  is  Tolstoi's 
love  of  men.  "You  may  make  good  bricks  without 
love,  but  you  cannot  treat  men  without  love, "  is  what 
he  says  in  substance.  Nekhludof  and  Mdslova  are  used 
to  show  the  truth  of  the  doctrine.  All  men  were  dear  to 
Tolstoi.  From  his  lofty  heights  he  longed  to  uplift  not 
only  the  morals  of  his  own  people,  but  those  of  humanity. 
He  longed  for  all  to  strive  for  the  divine  ideal;  his  great 
heart  embraced  mankind.  And  as  a  reward,  while  he 
now  sleeps  under  his  oak,  he  still  lives  and  will  continue 
always  to  live  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

ALINE  DELANO. 


"Then  came  Peter  to  him,  and  said,  Lord,  how  oft  shall  my 
brother  sin  against  me  and  I  forgive  him?  Until  seven  times? 
Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  say  not  unto  thee,  Until  seven  times:  but, 
Until  seventy  times  seven." — Matt,  xviii.  21-22. 

"And  why  beholdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's  eye, 
but  considerest  not  the  beam  that  is  in  thine  own  eye?" 

— Matt.  vii.  3. 

"He  that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a  stone 
at  her." — John  viii.  7. 

"The  disciple  is  not  above  his  master:  but  every  one  that  is 
perfect  shall  be  as  his  master." — Luke  vi.  40, 


IX 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Drawings   by   Pasternak 
VOLUME   I 

PAGE 
"THE    SOLDIER  PUT  THE  PAPER   INTO  THE   SLEEVE  OF   HIS 

COAT" Frontispiece 

PORTRAIT  OF  LYOF  N.  TOLSTOI Title 

"THE  SENIOR  WARDEN  ENTERED  THE  CORRIDOR  OF  THE  WOMEN'S 

WARD" 4 

PRINCE  NEKHLUDOFF 16 

"THE  FAMOUS  LAWYER,  WITH  HIS  SHINING  SHIRT-BOSOM"     .     .  28 

THE  PRESIDING  JUSTICE  AND  THE  ASSOCIATE  JUDGES     ....  32 

THE  JURY 38 

"MASLOVA  FIXED  HER  SMILING  BLACK  EYES  UPON  THE  PRESID 
ING  JUSTICE" 48 

"ALL  SO  SOLEMN,  AND  YET  SO  FESTIVE" 70 

RETURNING  FROM  CHURCH 74 

"NEKHLUDOFF  WENT  UP  TO  THE  WINDOW" 78 

"THE  GENDARME   WAS   FORCED  TO  TOUCH   THE   SLEEVE  OF   HER 

PRISON   CLOAK"     .     ,  •  ,     .     .     .     „     •     .     .     .     .     .     .  108 

PRINCESS  SOPHIA  VASILIEVNA 120 

THE  WOMEN'S  WARD 138 

"FACES  OF  WIVES,  HUSBANDS,  FATHERS,   MOTHERS,  AND  CHIL 
DREN"     180 

"THE  PEASANTS  WERE  ALL  ASSEMBLED*' 254 

"THE  EMACIATED  WOMAN,  WHO  HELD  HER  BLOODLESS  INFANT"  .  272 

VOLUME   II 

"THE  IRONIC   SMILE  OF   HIS  EYES  GREW    MORE  PRONOUNCED"    .  102 


RESURRECTION 

VOLUME  I. 


RESURRECTION 


BOOK  I. 

I. 

WHAT  if  a  few  hundred  thousand  men  huddled  together 
in  a  small  corner  of  the  world  had  done  their  utmost  to 
disfigure  it,  had  paved  the  ground  with  stones  so  that  no 
green  thing,  not  even  a  blade  of  grass,  could  grow;  had 
filled  the  air  with  the  fumes  of  coal  smoke  and  naphtha, 
trimmed  all  the  trees  and  driven  away  every  animal  and 
every  bird,  —  in  spite  of  all,  spring  was  still  spring  in  every 
town.  The  sun  warmed  the  earth,  the  grass  revived  and 
began  to  grow  green,  not  only  on  the  lawns  along  the 
boulevards,  but  even  when  it  got  a  chance  pushed  its  way 
between  the  cracks  of  the  pavements.  The  birches,  the 
wild  cherry-trees,  and  the  poplars  unfolded  their  gummy 
and  fragrant  leaves,  the  bursting  buds  of  the  lindens  ex 
panded,  the  jackdaws,  the  sparrows,  and  the  pigeons  were 
busy  and  joyous  over  their  nests,  and  the  very  flies  warmed 
by  the  sunshine  buzzed  gaily  along  the  walls.  Plants, 
birds,  insects,  and  children  rejoiced.  But  man,  mature 
man,  ceased  not  to  cheat  and  harass  himself  and  his  fellow- 
men.  Man  took  no  heed  of  the  sanctity  and  significance 
of  this  spring  morning,  —  the  beauty  of  God's  world  vouch 
safed  for  the  enjoyment  of  all,  which  should  incline  the 
hearts  of  men  to  love  and  concord, — he  thought  only  of 
his  own  schemes  for  self-aggrandizement  and  tyranny 
over  his  fellow-creatures. 


4  RESURRECTION 

The  idea  that  every  man  and  every  living  creature  has  a 
sacred  right  to  the  gladness  of  the  springtime  had  never 
penetrated  the  office  of  the  city  prison.  But  of  the  sacred 
character  of  a  certain  sealed  and  numbered  document  re 
ceived  on  the  previous  evening,  ordering  that  on  this  day, 
the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  at  nine  A.M.,  three  prisoners, 
two  men  and  one  woman,  should  be  summoned,  they  enter 
tained  no  doubt  whatever.  The  woman,  as  the  more  im 
portant  prisoner,  was  to  have  a  special  escort.  Therefore, 
in  conformity  with  this  order,  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of 
April,  at  eight  A.M.,  the  senior  warden  entered  the  foul 
and  gloomy  corridor  of  the  women's  ward.  He  was  fol 
lowed  by  a  gaunt,  gray-haired  woman,  who  wore  a  jacket 
with  gallooned  sleeves,  girt  about  the  waist  by  a  belt  with 
a  blue  edge.  It  was  the  superintendent  of  the  women's 
ward. 

"Is  it  Maslova  you  want?"  she  inquired  of  the  warden 
on  duty,  as  she  went  towards  the  door  of  one  of  the  cells 
that  led  from  the  corridor.  The  warden,  clanking  the 
padlock,  opened  the  door  of  the  cell,  which  sent  forth 
a  whiff  of  air  still  fouler  than  that  of  the  corridor. 

"Ma"slova  is  summoned  to  Court,"  he  called  out,  and 
while  waiting  reclosed  the  door. 

It  was  possible  in  the  prison  yard  to  perceive  a  sweet, 
refreshing  air  wafted  from  the  fields  into  the  city.  But 
in  the  corridor  the  atmosphere,  heavy  with  the  germs  of 
typhoid,  the  vile  sewage,  the  odor  of  tar,  and  the  stench 
of  putrefaction,  was  oppressive  the  moment  one  entered  it. 
And  the  matron  coming  in  from  the  yard,  although  famil 
iar  with  the  atmosphere,  was  affected  by  it.  No  sooner 
had  she  entered  the  corridor  than  she  felt  languid  and 
drowsy.  The  scramble  in  the  cell,  the  voices  of  the 
women,  and  the  pattering  of  bare  feet  were  distinctly 
audible. 

"Come,  Mdslova,  make  haste,  I  tell  you!"  called  the 
senior  warden.  Two  minutes  later  a  small,  broad-chested 
woman,  with  a  gray  prison  cloak  thrown  over  a  white  sack 


RESURRECTION  5 

and  skirt,  came  out  and  stood  beside  him.  On  her 
feet  were  linen  stockings  and  prison  shoes.  Beneath  the 
white  kerchief  tied  round  her  head  escaped,  evidently  by 
intention,  a  dark  ringlet  or  two.  Her  skin  had  the  peculiar 
whiteness  that  comes  from  long  confinement,  the  sort  of 
hue  that  brings  to  mind  potato-sprouts  grown  in  a  cellar. 
The  short,  broad  hands  and  as  much  of  the  full  neck  as 
could  be  seen  beneath  the  ample  prison  cloak  were  of  the 
same  color  as  her  face.  The  eyes,  which  were  black  and 
gleaming,  still  bright  though  swollen — a  slight  cast  in 
one  of  them — offered  a  striking  contrast  to  this  pallid 
face. 

She  carried  herself  erect,  her  full  chest  advanced  and 
head  thrown  back,  and  as  she  entered  the  corridor  she 
looked  straight  into  the  eyes  of  the  warden,  ready  to  obey 
his  order,  whatever  it  might  be.  Just  as  he  was  about  to 
shut  and  lock  the  door,  an  elderly  woman  showed  her  pale, 
morose,  and  wrinkled  face.  She  started  to  say  something 
to  Mdslova,  but  the  superintendent  slammed  the  door  in 
her  face;  and  as  the  head  disappeared  a  peal  of  women's 
laughter  rang  out  from  the  cell.  Maslova  smiled  too,  and 
turned  towards  the  barred  window  of  the  cell.  The  old 
woman  pressed  her  face  to  the  inside  grating  and  muttered 
in  a  hoarse  voice,  "Don't  forget  you  are  to  say  as  little 
as  you  can  and  stick  to  it." 

"If  the  business  could  only  be  settled  one  way  or  an 
other,  I  should  be  glad;  no  change  could  make  it  worse," 
said  Maslova,  with  a  shake  of  the  hand. 

"Yes,  one  way,  not  two  ways,"  said  the  senior  warden 
with  an  air  of  official  superiority,  and  satisfaction  with 
his  own  joke.  "Follow  me,  come  along." 

The  old  woman's  eye  vanished  as  Maslova  stepped  for 
ward  into  the  middle  of  the  corridor  and  swiftly  followed 
the  lead  of  the  warden.  They  descended  a  flight  of  stone 
steps,  passed  the  still  more  foul  and  noisy  cells  of  the 
men's  quarter,  pursued  by  many  eyes  peering  at  them 
through  the  grated  windows,  and  entered  the  office,  where 


6  RESURRECTION 

two  armed  sentinels  were  on  duty.  A  clerk  handed  to  one 
of  the  soldiers  a  paper  reeking  with  the  odor  of  tobacco, 
and  pointing  to  the  prisoner  said,  "Take  charge  of  this 
woman."  The  soldier,  a  peasant  from  Nijni-N6vgorod, 
with  a  red,  pock-marked  face,  tucked  the  document  into 
the  cuff  of  his  sleeve,  and  after  glancing  at  the  woman 
bestowed  a  sly  wink  upon  his  comrade,  a  broad-cheeked 
Tchouv&sh.  Then  both  soldiers  and  prisoner  descended 
the  stairs  that  led  towards  the  main  entrance.  Here 
a  small  gate  was  opened,  through  which  they  passed  and 
turned  into  one  of  the  paved  streets  of  the  town. 

Izvdstchiks,1  cooks,  laborers,  and  clerks  paused  to  gaze 
at  the  criminal;  some  shook  their  heads,  with  the  air  of 
thinking:  "  Such  are  the  consequences  of  bad  behavior,  — 
so  different  from  ours!"  Children  trembled  as  they 
stared  at  her,  but  when  they  saw  how  she  was  watched  by 
the  soldiers,  they  knew  she  could  do  no  more  harm.  A 
peasant,  who  having  sold  his  charcoal  had  just  been  drink 
ing  tea  in  the  tavern,  went  up  to  her  and  making  the  sign 
of  the  cross  offered  her  a  copeck. 

The  prisoner  blushed,  inclined  her  head,  and  murmured 
something  indistinctly,  conscious  that  all  eyes  were  fixed 
upon  her  though  she  never  turned  towards  them.  She 
looked  aslant  from  time  to  time  at  those  who  were  staring 
at  her,  and  seemed  to  derive  a  certain  amusement  from  the 
attention  she  attracted.  The  pure  spring  air,  such  a  con 
trast  to  that  of  the  prison,  was  really  grateful  to  her,  al 
though  she  seemed  to  think  of  nothing  but  picking  her 
way  over  the  cobble-stones  of  the  pavement.  She  tried  to 
step  as  lightly  as  she  could,  but  it  was  not  easy  to  walk  in 
those  clumsy  prison  shoes.  As  she  passed  a  grain-shop 
her  foot  by  accident  nearly  struck  one  of  the  pigeons  that 
were  waddling  unmolested  along  the  walk.  Fluttering  it 
rose,  and  as  it  flew,  fanned  the  air  close  to  her  ear;  she 
smiled,  and  as  the  sense  of  her  present  predicament  came 
over  her,  she  heaved  a  deep  sigh. 

'  Drivers  of  public  carriages  or  cabs. 


RESURRECTION 


II. 

THE  story  of  Mdslova,  the  prisoner,  is  just  an  every 
day  affair.  She  was  the  daughter  of  an  unmarried  serf, 
who  lived  on  an  estate  belonging  to  two  maiden  sisters, 
where  her  grandmother  was  a  dairymaid.  Once  a  year 
this  unmarried  woman  became  a  mother,  and,  according 
to  the  usual  custom  in  such  cases,  the  child  was  baptized; 
but  the  mother  never  thought  of  nursing  the  unwelcome 
little  stranger.  The  baby  was  simply  a  hindrance  to  her 
work;  she  had  to  do  her  work,  consequently  the  baby,  neg 
lected,  soon  died  of  hunger.  Thus  she  disposed  of  five 
children.  Each  one  was  regularly  baptized,  starved  to 
death,  and  buried.  The  sixth  child,  whose  father  was  a 
traveling  gipsy,  happened  to  be  a  girl,  and  her  fate  would 
not  have  differed  from  that  of  the  others,  had  it  not  so 
chanced  that  one  of  the  two  maiden  ladies  while  visiting 
the  barnyard  for  the  purpose  of  reprimanding  the  dairy 
maid  on  account  of  her  unsatisfactory  cream,  caught  sight 
of  the  mother  with  her  handsome,  healthy-looking  child. 
Having  scolded  the  dairymaid  about  the  cream  and  also 
for  keeping  a  woman  with  a  newly-born  child  on  the 
premises,  she  was  about  to  leave,  when  her  eye  rested 
again  on  the  child.  Touched  with  pity,  she  offered  to  be 
its  godmother.  The  little  girl  was  baptized,  and  out  of 
compassion  for  the  godchild,  milk  and  money  were  sent 
to  the  mother.  This  was  how  it  happened  that  the  girl 
lived,  and  forever  after  the  old  ladies  always  called  her 
"the  rescued  one." 

The  child  was  but  three  years  old  when  her  mother 
sickened  and  died,  and  as  her  grandmother,  the  dairymaid, 
showed  that  the  care  of  so  young  a  child  was  too  much  of 
a  burden,  the  old  ladies  took  her  into  the  manor  house. 

The  little  girl,  with  her  black  eyes,  was  unusually 
bright  and  attractive  and  a  real  comfort  to  the  good  ladies. 
It  was  the  younger  and  more  kindly  of  the  sisters,  S6phya 


8  RESURRECTION 

Iva"novna,  who  was  the  child's  godmother.  The  disposi 
tion  of  the  elder,  Marya  Ivanovna,  was  more  stern  than 
that  of  her  sister.  It  was  Sdphya  Ivdnovna  who  dressed 
the  little  girl  and  taught  her  to  read,  intending  to  keep 
her  in  the  house.  Marya  Ivanovna  used  to  say  that  the 
girl  must  be  brought  up  to  work,  and  trained  for  a  house 
maid;  therefore  she  was  more  exacting;  if  she  happened 
to  be  out  of  sorts,  she  would  relieve  her  feelings  by  spank 
ing  the  child.  The  result  was  that  under  two  opposing 
influences  the  child  grew  up  half  a  servant  and  half  a 
lady.  They  called  her  Katusha,  a  sort  of  compromise  be 
tween  Katka  and  Katenka.  She  sewed,  kept  the  rooms 
in  order,  polished  the  irons  with  chalk,  roasted,  ground, 
and  served  the  coffee,  did  the  small  washing,  and  now  and 
then  read  aloud  to  the  ladies. 

She  had  several  offers  of  marriage,  but  was  not  inclined 
to  accept  any  of  them.  She  realized  that  the  life  she 
would  be  obliged  to  lead  with  the  laboring  men  who  offered 
to  marry  her  would  be  too  hard  for  her,  accustomed  as 
she  was  to  a  life  of  comparative  ease  in  the  house  of  her 
mistresses. 

When  she  was  about  sixteen  years  old,  there  came  to  the 
house  on  a  visit  a  rich  young  Prince,  nephew  to  the  ladies 
of  the  manor  and  at  that  time  a  student  in  the  University. 
Katusha  fell  in  love  with  him,  though  she  hardly  dared  to 
acknowledge  it  to  herself.  Two  years  later,  when  he  was 
about  to  join  the  army,  he  paid  his  aunts  a  four  days'  visit. 
On  the  eve  of  his  departure  he  seduced  Katusha,  and  when 
he  bade  her  good-by  he  thrust  into  her  hand  a  hundred- 
rouble  note.  Within  five  months  of  this  time  she  realized 
that  she  was  about  to  become  a  mother. 

From  that  moment  life  became  a  burden  to  her,  and 
absorbed  in  schemes  for  escaping  the  disgrace  which 
threatened  her,  she  went  about  her  duties  in  a  listless  way, 
and  one  day  before  she  knew  what  she  was  saying,  she 
spoke  insolently  to  her  mistresses,  —  and  bitterly  did  she 
repent  of  this  in  after  days,  —  asking  to  be  discharged. 


RESURRECTION  9 

Of  course  the  ladies  were  seriously  displeased,  and  dis- 
missed  her  from  their  service.  Then  she  found  a  situation 
as  housemaid  in  the  family  of  &StanovdyJ-  but  she  could 
not  keep  it,  because  the  master,  a  man  who  must  have  been 
fifty  years  old,  began  to  torment  her  with  his  amorous 
advances,  and  one  day  when  he  was  particularly  aggressive 
she  lost  her  temper,  called  him  a  fool  and  an  old  devil,  and 
gave  him  a  blow  that  fairly  felled  him  to  the  ground.  She 
was  dismissed  for  impertinence.  There  was  no  chance  for 
her  now  in  domestic  service,  and  as  the  time  of  her  confine 
ment  drew  near,  she  took  lodgings  with  a  village  midwife, 
who  also  plied  the  trade  of  liquor-dealer.  She  was  not 
very  ill  when  her  baby  was  born,  but  the  midwife,  who  had 
previously  delivered  a  peasant  woman  now  lying  ill  with 
puerperal  fever,  carried  the  contagion.  Meanwhile  the 
baby  boy  had  been  sent  to  the  Foundling  Asylum,  where, 
according  to  the  story  of  the  woman  who  carried  him, 
he  died  on  his  arrival. 

When  Katusha  arrived  at  the  midwife's  house,  she  had 
one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  roubles, — the  one  hun 
dred  which  her  seducer  had  given  her  and  twenty-seven 
which  she  had  earned.  When  she  left  she  had  only  six. 
She  had  no  faculty  for  saving.  Not  only  was  she  im 
provident,  but  she  never  refused  money  when  she  was 
asked  for  it.  The  midwife  charged  her  forty  roubles  for 
two  months'  lodging,  including  her  meals  and  tea.  She 
paid  twenty-five  for  having  her  child  carried  away. 
She  lent  the  midwife  forty  roubles  to  buy  a  cow,  and 
twenty  roubles  were  flung  away  on  dress  and  feasts,  so 
that  when  Katusha  recovered,  she  had  no  money  and  must 
look  for  a  place.  One  was  found  in  the  house  of  a  govern 
ment  forester,  a  married  man,  who,  like  the  Stanovdy, 
very  soon  began  to  importune  her  with  his  attentions. 
She  loathed  him  and  did  all  she  could  to  avoid  him,  but 
he  was  a  man  of  experience  and  far  too  crafty  for  her. 
Moreover,  he  was  the  master  and  could  send  her  wherever 

1  Petty  officer  of  the  rural  police.— TR. 


io  RESURRECTION 

he  liked.  So  one  day,  having  chosen  his  time,  he  suc 
ceeded  in  overpowering  her.  Soon  afterwards  his  wife 
chanced  to  find  her  husband  alone  with  Katiisha,  and 
in  her  rage  at  the  discovery  she  threw  herself  upon  the  girl; 
Katiisha  resisted;  there  was  a  struggle,  and  the  conse 
quence  was,  she  was  turned  out  of  the  house  without 
her  wages.  Then  Katusha  went  to  her  aunt  in  the 
city. 

The  aunt's  husband  was  a  bookbinder,  who  formerly 
had  a  good  business  but,  discouraged  by  losing  his  cus 
tomers,  had  taken  to  drink  and  squandered  everything 
he  could  lay  his  hands  on.  The  aunt  kept  a  small  laun 
dry,  by  which  means  she  supported  herself  and  the  chil 
dren,  not  to  mention  her  good-for-nothing  husband. 
She  told  M&slova  she  would  take  her  in  as  a  laundress; 
but  the  latter,  seeing  the  hard  life  of  the  other  laundresses 
whom  her  aunt  employed,  hesitated  about  accepting  the 
offer,  meanwhile  visiting  the  employment  offices  in  search 
of  a  place.  And  behold  a  position  was  offered  her  with 
a  lady  who  had  two  sons,  both  pupils  in  the  public  school. 
A  week  later  the  older  boy,  who  was  in  the  Sixth  Form  and 
who  already  possessed  a  mustache,  neglected  his  studies 
and  began  to  devote  himself  to  Maslova.  The  mother 
laid  all  the  blame  upon  the  girl,  and  sent  her  away. 

She  had  no  other  place  in  view,  but  it  so  happened  that 
just  as  she  entered  the  employment  office  she  met  a  lady 
bedecked  with  rings  and  bracelets,  who,  when  she  learned 
that  Maslova  was  looking  for  a  situation,  gave  her  her 
address  and  asked  her  to  call.  When  Maslova  called  she 
was  received  with  a  certain  hospitality ;  the  woman  offered 
her  pastry  and  sweet  wine,  and  straightway  sent  out  her 
maid  with  a  note.  At  night  a  tall,  gray-haired  man  made 
his  appearance,  who,  as  soon  as  he  saw  Mdslova,  took  a 
seat  beside  her  and,  smiling,  began  to  joke  with  her  in  a 
familiar  sort  of  way.  The  mistress  of  the  house  called 
him  out  into  the  next  room,  and  Maslova  heard  her  say, 
"Fresh  from  the  country."  Then  she  took  Mdslova  aside 


RESURRECTION  n 

and  told  her  that  the  man  was  a  rich  author  who  would 
treat  her  generously  if  he  found  her  to  his  liking.  She 
proved  satisfactory,  received  twenty-five  roubles  and  the 
promise  to  send  for  her  again.  The  money  was  soon 
spent  in  repaying  her  aunt  and  buying  a  new  gown,  bon 
net,  and  ribbons.  A  few  days  later  she  received  another 
summons,  twenty-five  roubles  was  again  paid  to  her, 
and  besides  this  she  was  offered  a  private  apartment. 
While  she  was  living  in  this  lodging  hired  for  her  by 
the  author,  she  fell  in  love  with  a  jolly  clerk  who  lived  in 
the  same  house.  She  told  the  author  of  this  herself  and 
left  him,  taking  another  and  smaller  apartment.  But  the 
clerk,  who  had  promised  to  marry  her,  left  her  one  fine 
day  and  went  to  Nijni-N6vgorod;  and  so  she  found  herself 
alone.  She  would  have  liked  to  keep  her  apartment,  but 
was  not  allowed  to  do  so.  The  police  officer  told  her  that 
she  could  not  live  in  that  way,  unless  she  procured  a  yellow 
ticket1  and  submitted  herself  to  a  medical  examination. 
She  then  returned  to  her  aunt,  who  seeing  her  fashionable 
garments,  gown,  cape,  and  bonnet  received  her  with  respect, 
and  now  no  longer  dared  to  offer  her  the  employment  of  a 
laundress,  for  it  was  plain  to  be  seen  that  she  had  risen  hi 
the  world.  In  fact  it  no  longer  occurred  to  Mdslova  her 
self  that  it  was  possible  for  her  to  be  a  laundress.  She 
looked  with  mingled  pity  and  contempt  on  the  hard  lives 
of  the  laundresses,  —  those  women  who  live  in  the  house, 
some  of  whom  were  already  consumptive,  with  their  thin, 
white  hands,  —  washing  and  ironing  in  a  temperature  of 
thirty  degrees,2  the  steaming  atmosphere  reeking  with 
soapsuds,  windows  open  in  winter  just  the  same  as  in 
summer;  she  looked  at  them  and  was  horrified  to  remem 
ber  that  once  she  herself  thought  of  accepting  this  life  of 
torture.  About  this  time  it  was  that,  no  new  patron  mak 
ing  his  appearance,  Mdslova  encountered  a  woman  who 
earned  her  living  by  providing  women  for  houses  of  ill 
fame. 

1  License  for  prostitutes.  —  TR.  *  Reaumur.  —  TR. 


12  RESURRECTION 

Maslova  had  long  ago  acquired  the  habit  of  smoking, 
but  it  was  only  during  her  liaison  with  the  clerk  and  after 
he  had  left  her  that  she  began  to  drink.  Wine  was  consol 
ing,  not  only  because  it  was  pleasant  to  the  taste,  but  be 
cause  it  made  her  forget  all  she  had  been  through;  it  gave 
her  abandon  and  self-esteem  as  well  as  confidence  in  her 
own  attractions,  which  she  never  felt  except  when  she  was 
under  the  influence  of  wine.  Her  natural  mood  was  sad 
and  dejected.  The  newly-found  friend  first  treated  her 
aunt  and  then,  having  treated  Mdslova  also,  offered  to  in 
troduce  her  into  the  best  establishment  of  the  kind  in  town, 
loudly  extolling  the  numerous  advantages  of  such  a  life. 
It  was  for  Maslova  to  choose  between  the  degrading  posi 
tion  of  a  servant,  where  she  could  not  fail  to  be  harassed 
by  the  men,  with  casual  debasement,  or  the  position, 
countenanced  by  law,  of  legalized  adultery  regarded  as  a 
financial  transaction,  and  she  decided  to  accept  the  latter. 
Besides,  she  had  the  idea  that  to  adopt  this  profession 
would  be  a  kind  of  revenge  on  her  original  betrayer,  on  the 
faithless  clerk,  and  on  all  those  who  had  wronged  her. 
But  the  bribe  that  chiefly  enticed  her,  the  prime  factor 
that  brought  about  the  final  decision,  was  the  woman's 
promise  to  let  her  order  any  kind  of  gowns  she  chose, — 
gowns  of  velvet  and  silk,  ball-gowns  with  short  sleeves  and 
cut  low  in  the  neck;  and  the  picture  of  herself  arrayed 
in  a  bright  yellow  silk  gown  trimmed  with  black  velvet 
and  decollete',  was  simply  irresistible  and  she  surrendered 
her  passport.  That  same  night  her  new  friend  hired 
a  team  and  took  her  to  the  famous  house  of  Mme. 
Kita"ev. 

And  thus  Maslova  entered  into  that  life  of  chronic 
crime  in  disregard  of  every  commandment,  divine  and 
human,  a  life  which  hundreds  and  thousands  of  women 
lead,  not  only  with  the  consent  but  under  the  patronage 
of  government,  anxious  to  promote  the  welfare  of  its 
citizens,  a  life  which  ends  for  nine  women  out  of  ten  in 
painful  disease,  premature  decrepitude,  and  death. 


RESURRECTION  13 

The  forenoon  is  spent  in  sleeping  off  the  effects  of  the 
night's  carouse.  At  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  after 
noon,  wearily  rising  from  foul  beds,  Seltzer  water  is 
needed  to  settle  the  stomach;  this  is  followed  by  a  cup 
of  coffee,  and  then,  clad  in  loose  wrapper,  sack,  or  dress 
ing-gown,  they  dawdle  from  room  to  room  exchanging 
idle  visits.  Now  and  then  from  behind  a  curtained 
window  one  takes  a  peep  into  the  street.  Listless  squab 
bles  divert  them  for  the  moment;  then  comes  the  bath, 
the  perfuming  of  the  hair  and  the  body,  the  trying  on  of 
gowns,  the  disputes  with  the  proprietress,  the  contem 
plation  of  themselves  in  the  glass,  the  painting  of  face 
and  brows,  and  finally  the  toilette.  Now,  arrayed  in  a 
resplendent  gown  cut  to  display  the  form  to  the  greatest 
advantage,  they  enter  a  decorated  and  brilliantly  lighted 
hall.  The  guests  arrive,  and  then  come  the  music, 
the  dancing,  the  sweets,  the  wine,  the  smoking,  and  the 
adultery  with  men  of  all  conditions,  young,  middle-aged, 
and  decrepit,  married  and  unmarried,  merchants  and 
clerks,  Armenians,  Jews,  and  Tartars,  rich  and  poor, 
healthy  and  diseased;  adultery  with  men  drunk  and  with 
men  sober,  men  tender  and  men  brutal,  soldiers  and 
civilians,  students  and  college  boys,  men  of  every  rank, 
age,  and  character.  Shouts,  jests,  squabbles,  music, 
tobacco,  and  wine;  wine,  tobacco,  and  the  never  ceasing 
music  all  night  long,  till  early  dawn.  And  this  goes  on 
day  after  day  and  week  after  week.  At  the  end  of  every 
week  there  is  a  visit  to  one  of  the  government  offices, 
where  the  officials  who  are  in  the  government's  employ, 
the  physicians — sometimes  with  dignified  gravity  and 
sometimes  with  a  jovial  hilarity  fatal  to  that  sense  of 
shame  bestowed  by  nature  upon  man  and  beast,  —  the 
physicians  subject  these  women  to  a  medical  examination 
and  then  issue  a  permit  for  the  continuance  of  the  crimes 
they  and  their  friends  have  committed  during  the  week. 
And  so  on,  day  after  day  and  week  after  week,  summer  and 
winter,  week  days  and  holidays. 


H  RESURRECTION 

And  thus  Maslova  spent  seven  years.  During  this 
period  she  changed  her  abode  twice  and  was  once  in  the 
hospital  for  a  time.  It  was  during  the  seventh  year  of 
this  life  and  the  eighth  dating  from  her  first  sin,  and 
while  she  was  yet  only  twenty-six  years  old,  that  she  was 
arrested  and  sent  to  jail;  and  now  after  six  months' 
detention  among  thieves  and  murderers  she  was  on  her 
way  to  the  Court  House  to  undergo  her  trial. 

III. 

WHILE  Maslova,  fatigued  after  that  long  walk  with 
her  guards,  was  drawing  near  the  Court  House,  the 
nephew  of  her  lady  patronesses,  Prince  Dmitri  Ivdnovitch 
Nekhudof,  the  man  who  had  seduced  her,  reclining  on 
the  down  mattress  of  his  high  spring  bed,  loosened  the 
collar  of  his  immaculate  linen  shirt,  with  its  elaborate 
tucks.  He  was  smoking  a  cigarette  and  gazing  vacantly 
into  space,  thinking  about  his  engagements  for  the  day 
and  meditating  upon  what  happened  yesterday. 

As  he  reviewed  the  incidents  of  the  previous  evening, 
which  he  had  spent  at  the  Korchagins',  people  of  wealth 
and  social  importance,  whose  daughter  he  was  shortly 
expected  to  marry,  he  sighed;  then,  throwing  away  the 
butt  of  his  cigarette,  he  was  about  to  take  another  from 
its  silver  case,  but  changed  his  mind,  felt  for  his  slippers, 
thrust  his  feet  into  them,  and  throwing  a  dressing-gown 
over  his  shoulders  and  stepping  heavily,  he  hurried  into 
his  dressing-room,  where  the  atmosphere  was  oppressive 
with  the  scents  of  various  elixirs,  eau  de  Cologne,  poma 
tums,  and  all  sorts  of  perfumes.  First,  with  a  special 
powder,  he  cleaned  his  gold-filled  teeth,  rinsing  his  mouth 
with  perfumed  water;  then  he  proceeded  to  his  ablutions, 
and  the  drying  process  was  accomplished  by  the  use  of 
various  towels.  Having  washed  his  hands  with  scented 
soap,  he  carefully  brushed  his  long  nails;  and  after  wash 
ing  his  face  and  neck  in  the  marble  basin,  he  entered 


RESURRECTION  15 

a  third  room,  where  a  shower  bath  awaited  him.  Here 
his  white,  stout,  vigorous,  and  muscular  body  was  bathed 
with  cold  water  and  dried  with  a  Turkish  bath  towel; 
he  then  put  on  fresh  linen  and  his  shoes,  which  shone 
like  a  mirror,  and  finally  seated  himself  at  the  toilet 
table.  Here  he  proceeded  to  brush  his  close-cut  black 
and  curling  beard,  and  his  hair  that  was  just  beginning 
to  grow  thin  at  the  temples,  using  a  special  brush  for 
each. 

Everything  that  he  used  about  his  toilet,  as  well  as 
his  linen  and  all  his  clothing,  his  shoes,  his  neckties, 
scarf-pins,  and  studs,  were  of  the  finest  quality,  —  quiet, 
simple,  durable,  and  costly. 

Taking  at  random  from  the  dozen  neckties  and  scarf- 
pins  the  ones  that  lay  nearest  his  hand  —  this  affair  of 
dressing,  once  so  novel  and  entertaining,  had  lost  its 
interest, — he  put  on  his  carefully  brushed  clothes,  which 
lay  upon  the  chair  waiting  for  him;  and  now,  spotless 
and  perfumed,  if  not  thoroughly  refreshed,  Nekhludof 
entered  the  oblong  dining-room,  whose  waxed  parquet 
floor  had  by  the  labor  of  three  peasants  received  its 
brilliant  polish  on  the  previous  day.  This  room  was 
furnished  with  a  large  oaken  sideboard  and  a  stately 
dining-table  with  heavily  carved  claw  feet. 

On  this  table,  covered  with  a  fine,  starched  cloth,  on 
which  was  embroidered  his  coat-of-arms,  stood  a  silver 
coffee-pot  filled  with  fragrant  coffee,  a  silver  sugar-bowl, 
a  cream-jug  containing  boiled  cream,  and  a  basket  of 
freshly  baked  rusks  and  rolls.  Beside  his  plate  lay  the 
morning  mail,  —  letters,  journals,  and  the  last  number 
of  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes. 

He  was  just  going  to  open  the  letters  when  the  door 
that  led  into  the  corridor  was  opened,  and  a  stout, 
elderly  woman  came  into  the  room.  She  was  dressed  in 
mourning,  and  wore  a  lace  fichu  on  her  head  to  hide  the 
thinness  of  her  parting. '  This  woman  had  been  lady's- 
maid  to  Nekhludof's  mother,  who  had  died  not  long  before 


16  RESURRECTION 

in  th*s  very  apartment,  and  she  continued  to  live  with  the 
son  as  his  housekeeper. 

Agraphena  Petrdvna  had,  off  and  on,  lived  abroad, 
with  his  mother,  and  she  had  quite  the  air  and  the  man 
ners  of  a  lady.  She  had  lived  with  the  Nekhludofs  ever 
since  she  was  a  child  and  had  known  Dmitri  Ivanovitch 
when  they  used  to  call  him  Mitinka. 

" Good-morning,  Dmitri  Ivanovitch!" 

" Good-morning,  Agraph&ia  Petrdvna!  Any  news?" 
he  asked  jestingly. 

"A  letter  from  Madam  the  Princess,  or  it  may  be  from 
the  young  lady.  The  maid  brought  it  some  time  ago, 
and  she  is  now  waiting  in  my  room,"  said  Agraphena 
Petrovna,  smiling  significantly. 

"Very  well,  I  will  attend  to  it,"  said  Nekhludof,  and 
as  he  took  the  letter,  noticing  Agraphena  Petrovna's 
smile,  he  frowned.  What  her  smile  meant  was,  that  she 
believed  the  letter  came  from  the  young  Princess  Kor- 
chagin,  whom  Agraphena  Petrovna  was  sure  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  marry;  and  it  was  this  idea  of  hers  ex 
pressed  by  a  smile  that  annoyed  Nekhludof. 

"I  will  tell  her  to  wait,"  she  said,  and  restoring  a 
crumb-brush  that  lay  on  the  table  to  its  usual  place, 
she  waddled  out  of  the  dining-room. 

When  he  opened  the  scented  letter,  which  Agraphe'na 
Petrdvna  had  given  him,  he  read: 

"Having  taken  it  upon  myself  to  be  your  memory," 
thus  ran  the  letter,  written  with  a  bold  hand  on  a  sheet 
of  heavy  gray  paper  with  rough  edges,  "I  hereby  re 
mind  you  that  to-day,  April  the  twenty-eighth,  you  are 
obliged  to  appear  in  Court  as  juryman  and  therefore 
you  will  not  be  able  to  go  with  Kolossof  and  us  to  see 
the  paintings,  as  in  your  usual  reckless  fashion  you  prom 
ised  to  do  last  night;  a  moins  que  vous  ne  soyez  dispose 
&  payer  a  la  cour  d'assises  les  300  roubles  d' amende  que 
vous  vous  rejusez  pour  votre  cheval,  for  not  appearing  on 


RESURRECTION  17 

time.     I  thought  of  it  last  night  after  you  left.     Now 
do  not  forget  it.  Pr.  M.  Korchdgin." 

On  the  other  side  of  the  sheet,  it  said: 

"  Maman  vous  fait  dire  que  votre  convert  vous  attendra 
jusqu'a  la  null.  Venez  absolument  a  quelle  heure  que  cela 
soit.  M.  K." 

Nekhludof  frowned.  This  note  belonged  to  the 
sequence  of  the  skillful  campaign  which  the  Princess 
Korchagin  had  been  waging  for  nearly  two  months, 
designed  for  the  purpose  of  chaining  him  to  her  side  with 
invisible  bonds.  But  apart  from  the  customary  hesitation 
peculiar  to  men  who  have  passed  their  first  youth  and 
who  are  not  deeply  in  love,  there  was  another  and  more 
important  reason  which  prevented  Nekhliidof  from 
making  an  immediate  offer  of  marriage.  It  was  not 
because  ten  years  ago  he  had  seduced  Katusha  and  then 
deserted  her,  —  that  affair  had  quite  gone  out  of  his 
mind,  nor  would  he  have  considered  it  any  obstacle  to 
his  marriage;  it  was  because  just  now  he  happened  to 
have  a  liaison  with  a  married  woman.  Now,  so  far  as 
he  was  concerned,  this  affair  was  practically  at  an  end, 
but  he  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  persuading  the  lady  to 
agree  with  him.  Nekhludof  was  very  shy  with  women, 
and  it  was  that  very  shyness  which  tempted  this  woman  to 
try  to  conquer  him.  She  was  the  wife  of  the  Marshal 
of  the  Nobility  of  the  district  in  which  Nekhludof  voted, 
and  she  had  drawn  him  into  a  liaison  which  grew  daily 
more  and  more  absorbing,  and  at  the  same  time  more 
and  more  distasteful  to  him. 

At  first  he  had  not  the  strength  to  resist  the  temptation, 
and  when  later  he  realized  his  guilt,  the  same  weakness 
prevented  him  from  breaking  with  her  against  her  will. 
And  for  this  reason  he  felt  that  he  had  no  right,  even 
had  he  been  inclined,  to  propose  to  Mile.  Korchagin. 

That  letter  lying  there  on  the  table  —  there  was  not  a 

VOL.    I. — 2 


1 8  RESURRECTION 

doubt  but  it  came  from  the  injured  husband.  When  he 
recognized  the  writing  and  postmark,  his  color  height 
ened  and  instantly  his  spirit  rose  as  it  always  did  in  the  face 
of  danger.  But  his  excitement  was  uncalled  for.  The 
Marshal  of  Nobility  of  the  district  where  Nekhludof's 
principal  estates  were  situated,  had  written  to  inform 
him  that  a  special  assembly  of  the  Zemstvo  was  to  be 
held  on  the  last  days  of  May  and  he  was  anxious  that 
NekhMdof  should  be  present  pour  donner  un  d'epaule  in 
the  discussion  of  important  questions  concerning  the 
schools  and  the  roads,  projects  which  were  to  be  violently 
opposed  by  the  reactionary  party. 

The  Marshal  of  Nobility  was  a  liberal-minded  man, 
and  there  were  others  who,  sharing  his  political  views, 
supported  him  in  his  opposition  to  the  reaction  which 
had  set  in  during  the  reign  of  the  Czar  Alexander  III; 
absorbed  heart  and  soul  in  this  struggle,  he  was  quite 
unconscious  of  his  own  domestic  misfortune. 

Nekhliidof  recalled  all  the  trying  moments  he  had 
spent  on  account  of  his  attitude  towards  this  man.  He 
remembered  the  time  when  he  thought  that  the  husband 
had  been  enlightened,  and  he  was  making  all  his  arrange 
ments  for  a  duel,  deciding  that  he  would  fire  into  the  air; 
and  that  shocking  scene  he  had  with  her  when  she  rushed 
desperately  into  the  garden  to  drown  herself  in  the  pond, 
and  how  he  had  gone  out  in  search  of  her.  "It  is  im 
possible  to  undertake  anything  whatsoever,  until  I  have 
heard  from  her,"  he  thought.  A  week  ago  he  had  written 
her  a  decisive  letter  in  which,  taking  the  entire  blame 
upon  himself  and  declaring  that  he  was  ready  to  suffer 
any  penalty,  he  said  that  for  her  sake  it  seemed  to  him 
better  to  consider  their  intimacy  as  an  affair  of  the  past. 
It  was  the  reply  to  this  letter  for  which  he  was  waiting. 
That  he  had  received  none  might  possibly  be  a  favorable 
sign.  Had  she  not  agreed  to  the  breach  between  them, 
she  would  before  this  time  have  either  written  or  have 
appeared  in  person,  as  she  had  done  on  a  former  occasion. 


RESURRECTION  19 

He  had  heard  a  rumor  that  some  officer  was  devoted  to 
her,  which  though  it  made  him  jealous  still  encouraged 
him  to  hope  for  release  from  this  dishonorable  life  he 
was  leading. 

The  other  letter  was  from  his  chief  steward,  who 
wrote  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  Prince  to  visit 
his  estate  in  order  to  take  formal  possession  thereof,  and 
to  give  verbal  instruction  concerning  its  management. 
Was  it  to  be  conducted  as  it  had  been  during  the  lifetime 
of  the  Princess,  or  would  the  proposition  which  he,  the 
steward,  had  made  to  the  Princess  and  now  repeated  to 
Prince  Dmitri,  —  that  is,  to  increase  the  tract  of  arable 
land  formerly  distributed  to  the  peasants  and  also  to 
cultivate  it  themselves,  be  considered?  He  said  that  the 
latter  would  certainly  be  the  more  advantageous.  He 
also  apologized  for  not  sending  the  three  thousand  roubles 
which  were  due  on  the  first  of  the  month.  The  money 
would  be  sent  by  the  next  mail.  He  was  somewhat 
in  arrears  because  he  had  been  unable  to  collect  it  from 
the  peasants,  who  were  so  unprincipled  that  he  had  been 
obliged  to  appeal  to  the  authorities. 

This  letter  was  pleasing  in  some  respects  and  displeas 
ing  in  others.  It  was  gratifying  to  feel  himself  the 
master  of  his  property,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  disturbed 
him  to  find  that  whereas  in  the  first  dawn  of  youth  he  had 
been  an  ardent  admirer  of  Herbert  Spencer,  now  that 
he  had  become  a  prominent  landed  proprietor,  he  was 
shocked  at  Spencer's  propositions  in  "Social  Statics," 
that  equity  does  not  admit  the  right  of  private  ownership 
in  land.  At  that  time,  burning  with  the  enthusiasm  of 
youth,  he  maintained  that  land  could  not  be  considered 
private  property,  and  while  in  the  University  he  wrote 
a  thesis  on  this  subject  and  determined  to  live  up  to  his 
principles;  he  had  actually  surrendered  to  the  peasants  a 
small  piece  of  land  which  he  had  inherited  from  his  father. 
Now  he  had  become  a  large  landowner  and  must  make 
his  choice  between  the  two  issues:  either  give  up  his 


20  RESURRECTION 

property  as  he  had  done  ten  years  ago  with  the  two  hun 
dred  dessiatins1  that  came  to  him  from  his  father,  or 
acknowledge,  by  remaining  quiescent,  the  fallacy  of  his 
former  convictions. 

He  could  not  well  repeat  his  earlier  action,  for  his 
estate  was  his  only  means  of  support.  He  was  unwilling 
to  enter  the  government  service,  and  he  had  already  con 
tracted  habits  of  self-indulgence  and  luxury,  which  it 
would  be  impossible  to  break.  Neither  was  there  any 
call  for  it,  since  he  had  lost  the  conviction,  determination, 
and  pride  of  youth  as  well  as  the  desire  to  astonish  the 
world.  The  alternative  of  denying  the  lucid  and  un 
answerable  arguments  against  the  legality  of  landowner- 
ship,  which  he  had  found  in  Spencer's  "Social  Statics," 
arguments  which  afterwards  received  such  brilliant 
confirmation  in  the  writings  of  Henry  George,  —  this 
alternative  he  refused  to  consider. 

And  all  this  made  the  steward's  letter  unpleasant. 

IV. 

AFTER  he  had  finished  his  coffee,  Nekhludof  went  into 
his  study  to  examine  the  summons  and  ascertain  the  hour 
when  he  was  obliged  to  be  in  Court,  and  also  to  write  an 
answer  to  the  young  Princess.  In  order  to  reach  his  study 
he  had  to  pass  through  the  studio. 

Here  stood  an  easel  and  on  the  easel  an  unfinished  por 
trait  with  its  face  turned  to  the  wall,  where  a  few  studies 
had  been  set  up.  The  sight  of  the  picture,  over  which  he 
had  labored  for  two  years,  the  studies,  in  fact  the  very 
studio  itself,  deepened  the  ever  growing  conviction  that 
he  had  made  a  failure  of  art.  He  told  himself  that  it  was 
because  his  esthetic  taste  was  too  highly  developed. 
Nevertheless,  the  assurance  of  failure  was  not  pleasant. 
Seven  years  ago  he  had  abandoned  the  government  service, 
feeling  sure  that  he  had  a  taste  for  art,  and  from  the 

1  About  f  of  an  acre.  —  TR. 


RESURRECTION  21 

heights  of  his  artistic  existence  he  viewed  all  other  oc 
cupations  with  a  certain  scorn.  Now  he  hated  to  recall 
his  fond  delusion.  With  a  sense  of  depression  he  surveyed 
all  the  luxurious  appointments  of  the  studio,  and  entered 
his  study  in.  a  dejected  frame  of  mind.  The  study  also 
was  a  spacious  and  lofty  room  fitted  up  with  all  the  mod 
ern  conveniences,  decorations,  and  luxuries. 

He  found  at  once  in  one  of  the  drawers  of  his  huge 
writing-table,  labeled  "Immediate,"  the  summons  which 
bade  him  appear  at  the  Court  House  at  eleven  o'clock. 
Seating  himself  at  the  table,  he  wrote  a  note  of  thanks  for 
the  invitation  of  the  Princess  and  said  he  would  endeavor 
to  be  with  her  at  dinner  time.  But  he  had  no  sooner 
written  it  than  he  tore  it  up;  the  note  seemed  too  familiar; 
he  wrote  another,  but  the  second  one  seemed  too  cold;  it 
was  almost  rude.  He  destroyed  this  also.  Then  he 
pressed  an  electric  bell  in  the  wall.  His  summons  was 
answered  by  an  elderly,  morose-looking  man,  with  side 
whiskers  and  smooth  chin  and  lip,  who  wore  a  gray  cotton 
apron. 

"Call  an  izvostchik,  please." 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  And  isn't  some  one  here  from  the  Korchagins'  ?  Tell 
her  to  present  my  thanks  to  her  mistress  and  to  say  that  I 
shall  try  to  come." 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"That  is  not  a  very  courteous  way  of  replying,  but  I 
cannot  write.  Never  mind,  I  shall  see  her  to-day," 
thought  Nekhliidof  as  he  left  the  room  to  change  his 
clothes.  When  he  was  ready  he  stood  at  the  entrance. 
A  familiar  izvostchik  with  a  rubber-tired  droshky  was 
waiting  for  him. 

"  I  was  at  the  door  last  night  just  after  you  left  Prince 
Korcha"gin.  The  door-keeper  told  me  you  had  only  just 
gone,"  said  the  izvostchik,  turning  towards  him  his  strong, 
sunburnt  neck,  set  off  by  the  white  shirt  binding. 

"The  very  izvdslchiks  are  aware  of  my  visits  to  the 


22  RESURRECTION 

Korchagins,"  thought  Nekhltidof,  and  the  undecided 
question  to  marry  or  not  to  marry  Mile.  Korchdgin,  which 
had  preoccupied  him  of  late,  arose  once  more  in  his  mind; 
and  like  most  of  the  questions  that  presented  themselves 
to  him,  he  could  not  decide  it  either  one  way  or  the  other. 

There  was  this  to  be  said  in  its  favor:  In  the  first 
place  marriage,  besides  giving  him  the  comforts  of  a  home 
and  regulating  his  relations  with  women,  offered  the  pos 
sibilities  of  a  higher  life;  in  the  second  place — and  upon 
this  his  hopes  were  chiefly  founded  —  a  family  of  children 
would  give  a  meaning  to  his  meaningless  life.  Thus  he 
argued  in  favor  of  marriage.  Then  followed  the  argu 
ments  against  it,  and  foremost  among  them  was  the  fear, 
common  to  bachelors  past  their  first  youth,  of  losing  their 
freedom,  and  also  an  unaccountable  awe  of  that  myste 
rious  being  —  woman. 

Among  the  arguments  in  favor  of  marrying  Missy  — 
Mile.  Korchagin's  name  was  Mdrya,  but  according  to  the 
custom  in  the  higher  circles  she  had  been  nicknamed 
Missy  —  were  first  that  she  was  of  good  family  and  bore  no 
resemblance  whatever  to  the  ordinary  woman,  either  in 
dress,  manner,  or  carriage.  Her  very  laughter  was  not 
like  that  of  other  women.  Not  that  she  was  eccentric, 
far  from  it.  She  was  merely  well  bred, — a  qualification 
which  he  prized  above  all  others.  Secondly,  she  had 
held  him  in  high  esteem;  no  one  had  ever  shown  him  so 
much  respect,  and  therefore  he  was  sure  that  she  under 
stood  him.  It  was  her  sympathy  with  him  and  discern 
ment  of  his  superior  qualities  that  influenced  his  estimate 
of  her  intelligence  and  good  sense.  When  he  thought  over 
the  arguments  against  this  marriage,  it  seemed  to  him  not 
unlikely  that  a  girl  might  yet  be  found  with  even  higher 
qualities  and  who  would  therefore  be  still  more  suitable 
for  him,  also  that  Mile.  Korchagin  was  already  twenty- 
seven  years  old  and  probably  she  had  had  other  lovers. 
This  tormented  him.  His  vanity  revolted  against  the 
thought  that  there  had  been  a  time  in  the  past  when  she 


RESURRECTION  23 

had  not  loved  him.  She  could  hardly  have  been  expected 
to  know  beforehand  that  some  day  she  might  meet  him, 
and  yet  the  mere  idea  that  she  ever  could  have  loved 
another  was  extremely  disagreeable  to  him. 

So  the  arguments  pro  and  con  were  thus  fairly  well 
balanced,  at  least  they  were  equally  forcible,  and  with  an 
involuntary  smile  Nekhludof  recognized  in  himself  the  ass 
of  the  fable  between  two  bundles  of  hay.  He  could  not 
make  up  his  mind  to  choose  either  of  them. 

"Until  I  get  an  answer  from  Marya  Vasilievna  (the 
wife  of  the  Marshal  of  Nobility)  and  that  affair  is  off  my 
hands,  I  can  pledge  myself  to  nothing,"  he  reflected,  and 
the  respite  was  not  without  its  consolations. 

"However,  there  will  be  time  enough  to  think  of  this 
later,"  he  said  to  himself  as  his  droshky  drew  up  noise 
lessly  before  the  asphalt-paved  entrance  of  the  Court 
House.  "  The  question  now  is  to  discharge  a  public  duty 
in  my  usual  conscientious  way." 

And  as  he  passed  the  door-keeper  and  went  into  the 
vestibule  of  the  Court,  it  occurred  to  him  that  the  case 
might  by  chance  prove  an  interesting  one. 

V. 

WHEN  Nekhludof  entered,  the  corridors  of  the  Court 
House  were  already  crowded.  The  messengers  were  glid 
ing  noiselessly  to  and  fro,  carrying  papers  and  messages. 
Lawyers  and  clerks  went  back  and  forth,  plaintiffs  and 
defendants  in  civil  suits  wandered  aimlessly  about,  or  sat 
still  waiting. 

Nekhludof  addressed  one  of  the  messengers.  "  Where 
is  the  Circuit  Court?"  he  asked. 

"Which  Session  do  you  mean?     Civil  or  Criminal?" 

"I  am  one  of  the  jury." 

"Then  you  want  the  Criminal  Session.  You  should 
have  said  so.  Turn  to  the  right,  and  it's  the  second  door 
on  the  left." 


24  RESURRECTION 

Nekhludof  followed  the  directions.  Two  men  stood  by 
the  door,  waiting.  One,  a  tall,  stout,  good-natured-looking 
merchant,  had  evidently  had  his  bite  and  sup  and  was  in 
the  jolliest  of  humors.  The  other,  a  clerk  in  some  shop, 
looked  like  a  Jew.  They  were  discussing  the  price  of 
wool  when  Nekhludof  approached  them  and  inquired  for 
the  jurymen's  room. 

"  This  way,  sir,  this  way.  Are  you  one  of  the  jurymen, 
too?"  asked  the  merchant,  with  a  merry  wink. 

When  Nekhludof  replied  that  he  was,  the  man  went  on : 
"That's  good.  We  shall  be  together.  My  name  is 
Baklashof,  I  belong  to  the  Second  Guild,"  he  continued, 
extending  his  soft,  broad  hand.  "  We  have  to  work.  To 
whom  have  I  the  pleasure  of  speaking?" 

Nekhludof  gave  his  name  and  went  at  once  into  the 
jury-room.  There  were  about  ten  jurymen  present,  of 
every  sort  and  condition.  They  had  but  just  assembled; 
some  were  seated,  others  were  walking  up  and  down  in 
specting  each  other  and  getting  acquainted.  One  officer 
of  the  Military  Reserve  was  in  his  uniform,  others  wore 
frock-coats  and  business  suits,  and  one  was  attired  in  a 
peasant's  coat.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  some  of  them 
were  heard  protesting  against  it  as  a  nuisance  and  an 
interruption  to  their  business,  every  man  among  them  was 
pleased  at  the  idea  of  discharging  an  important  public 
duty.  The  jurymen,  some  of  whom  had  already  become 
acquainted  and  others  who  did  not  yet  know  to  whom 
they  were  speaking,  discussed  the  weather,  the  early 
spring,  and  the  business  before  them.  Those  who  were 
still  strangers  to  him  were  making  haste  to  become 
acquainted  with  Nekhludof,  evidently  considering  his 
acquaintance  a  great  honor.  He  always  received  the 
homage  of  strangers  as  nothing  less  than  his  due.  If 
he  had  been  asked  why  he  considered  himself  superior 
to  the  majority  of  men,  he  would  have  found  it  hard  to 
tell.  His  life  certainly  gave  no  evidence  of  special 
excellence.  That  he  spoke  English,  French,  and  German 


RESURRECTION  25 

like  a  native  and  that  his  wardrobe  was  supplied  from 
the  best  furnishing  establishments,  would  hardly  justify 
his  presumptive  superiority.  He  was  quite  well  aware 
of  that,  and  yet  he  really  seemed  to  think  himself  better 
than  other  men,  and  not  only  accepted  every  manifesta 
tion  of  homage  as  his  just  due,  but  showed  his  resentment 
if  it  were  withheld.  Now  it  seemed  to  him  that  he  was 
not  treated  with  sufficient  respect  in  this  jury-room. 
There  was  one  man  there  whom  he  knew  —  Piotr  Gheras- 
simovitch  —  (Nekhliidof  rather  prided  himself  on  never 
having  known  his  family  name); — he  used  to  teach  his 
sister's  children.  Piotr  Gherassimovitch  had  finished  his 
studies  and  was  then  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools. 
Nekhliidof  could  never  endure  him  on  account  of  his 
free  and  easy  manners,  his  self-complacent  laughter,  and 
his  pervasive  vulgarity,  as  Nekhludof's  sister  phrased  it. 

"Aha!  So  you're  trapped  too,  are  you?  You  didn't 
manage  to  get  off?"  he  shouted  to  Nekhludof. 

"I  had  no  intention  of  escaping,"  replied  Nekhludof, 
in  a  formal  tone. 

"There's  civic  virtue  for  you!  But  you  just  wait,  you 
will  sing  a  different  tune  when  you  begin  to  grow  hungry 
and  sleepy!"  he  shouted  still  louder. 

"The  next  thing,  this  priest's  son  will  be  calling  me 
'thou,'"  thought  Nekhludof,  and  he  assumed  such  an 
expression  of  gloom,  one  might  imagine  he  had  just 
heard  of  the  death  of  every  member  of  his  family. 

He  walked  away  and  approached  a  group  gathered 
around  a  tall,  cleanly  shaved,  fine-looking  man,  who  was 
talking  with  great  animation  about  a  trial  now  going  on  in 
the  Civil  Session,  where  he  seemed  to  be  familiar  with  the 
judges  and  prominent  lawyers,  whom  he  called  by  their 
middle  names.  He  was  describing  the  clever  way  in  which 
a  famous  advocate  had  handled  the  suit.  He  had  actually 
compelled  an  old  lady  who  had  the  right  on  her  side  to 
pay  to  his  client,  who  was  her  adversary,  a  large  sum  of 
money. 


26  RESURRECTION 

"That  man  is  a  genius!"  he  said. 

His  hearers  listened  to  him  respectfully  and  occasion 
ally  one  or  another  attempted  to  make  some  remark,  which 
he  invariably  interrupted  with  the  air  of  one  who  is  much 
better  informed  than  the  rest  of  the  world. 

In  spite  of  his  late  arrival  Nekhliidof  was  obliged  to  wait 
after  all,  because  one  of  the  Judges  was  delayed. 

VI. 

THE  Presiding  Justice,  a  tall,  portly  man  with  grayish 
whiskers,  had  arrived  early.  Although  a  married  man, 
his  standard  of  morality  was  low,  and  his  wife  imitated  his 
evil  example.  They  made  a  point  of  never  interfering 
with  each  other.  This  morning  he  had  received  a  note 
from  the  Swiss  governess  who  had  been  in  their  employ 
last  summer,  and  who  was  now  traveling  northwards 
to  Petersburg,  telling  him  that  she  would  be  in  the 
city  that  day,  and  would  expect  him  between  three  and  six 
at  the  Hotel  "Italy."  So  he  was  naturally  anxious  to 
begin  the  session  earlier  than  usual  in  order  to  adjourn 
in  time  to  call  on  this  red-haired  Clara  Vassllievna,  with 
whom  he  had  had  an  intrigue  last  summer  at  their  country 
house. 

Entering  the  Judges'  Lobby  he  locked  the  door,  took 
from  the  lower  shelf  of  the  cupboard  a  pair  of  dumb-bells, 
made  twenty  passes  up  and  down,  forward  and  sideways; 
then,  holding  the  dumb-bells  above  his  head,  he  bent  his 
knees  three  times. 

"Nothing  does  a  man  so  much  good  as  a  cold  shower 
bath  and  gymnastics,"  he  said  to  himself,  while  he  felt  the 
biceps  of  his  right  arm  with  his  left  hand;  he  wore  a  gold 
ring  on  the  third  finger  of  his  hand.  This  was  the  exercise 
which  he  always  took  before  a  session  which  promised 
to  be  a  long  one,  and  he  had  not  yet  done  the  whirling 
movements  when  some  one  tried  the  door.  Hastily 
replacing  the  dumb-bells,  he  opened  the  door. 


RESURRECTION  27 

"I  beg  your  pardon/'  he  said. 

One  of  the  Members  of  the  Court,  a  small  man  with 
high  shoulders,  gold  spectacles,  and  a  frown  upon  his 
brow,  entered  the  room. 

"Matve'y  Nikitich  is  absent  again/'  remarked  this 
Member,  and  there  was  a  shade  of  annoyance  in  his 
voice. 

"No,  he  has  not  come  yet.  He  is  always  late,"  said 
the  Presiding  Justice. 

"He  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  himself,"  said  the 
Member  angrily,  and  seating  himself  he  took  out  a 
cigarette. 

This  individual,  a  very  thrifty  man,  had  had  an  un 
pleasant  dispute  with  his  wife  that  morning. 

It  appeared  that  having  spent  all  of  this  month's  allow 
ance,  she  had  asked  him  to  give  her  an  advance  before 
the  beginning  of  the  next  month.  He  said  he  would  do 
nothing  of  the  sort,  and  a  quarrel  ensued.  The  wife 
told  him  if  he  persisted,  he  would  get  no  dinner,  and  he 
needn't  expect  any.  Whereupon  he  departed,  very 
much  afraid  that  she  would  keep  her  word,  as  she  was  a 
woman  from  whom  anything  might  be  expected.  "I 
should  like  to  know  what  good  it  does  to  be  an  honest 
man,"  he  thought  to  himself  as  he  glanced  at  the  beaming 
face  of  the  jolly,  vigorous-looking  Presiding  Justice, 
who  with  arms  outstretched  was  passing  his  handsome 
white  hands  through  his  long  whiskers,  arranging  them 
on  each  side  of  his  embroidered  collar.  "He  is  always 
cheerful  and  contented,  while  I  am  a  martyr." 

Just  then  the  Secretary  came  in,  bringing  a  case. 

"Thank  you  very  much,"  said  the  Presiding  Justice, 
and  lighted  a  cigarette.  "Which  case  will  be  heard 
first?" 

"Oh,  I  suppose  the  poisoning  case,"  replied  the  Secre 
tary,  carelessly. 

"Very  well,"  said  the  Presiding  Justice,  thinking  to 
himself  it  might  be  ended  before  four  o'clock  and  then  he 


28  RESURRECTION 

would  be  free  to  go.  "Hasn't  Matve*y  Nikitich  come 
yet?" 

"Not  yet." 

"IsBrevdhere?" 

"He  is,"  replied  the  Secretary. 

"Then  tell  him  if  you  see  him  that  we  shall  begin  with 
the  poisoning  case." 

Breve  was  the  Public  Prosecutor,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
read  the  indictments.  The  Secretary  met  Breve  in  the 
corridor.  He  was  hurrying  along  with  a  portfolio  under 
his  left  arm  and  sawing  the  air  with  his  right.  His 
uniform  was  unbuttoned  and  his  heels  clattered  as  he 
walked. 

"Michael  Petrovitch  wants  to  know  if  you  are  ready?" 
said  the  Secretary. 

"Ready?  I  am  always  ready,"  said  the  Prosecutor. 
"Which  case  comes  on  first?" 

"The  poisoning  case." 

"Very  well,"  replied  the  Prosecutor.  But  in  his  own 
mind  he  thought  it  anything  but  well.  He  had  not  had 
one  wink  of  sleep  the  previous  night.  He  had  been  at  a 
farewell  party  given  to  a  friend;  they  had  been  drinking 
and  gambling  till  two  o'clock;  then  they  had  called  on 
some  women  at  the  house  of  ill  fame  where  six  months 
ago  Maslova  was  living.  Consequently  he  had  no  time 
to  look  over  the  poisoning  case,  which  he  had  expected 
to  do  that  morning.  He  felt  convinced  that  the  Secretary, 
who  had  known  of  his  spree,  had  maliciously  advised 
the  Presiding  Justice  to  try  the  poisoning  case  first.  The 
Secretary  was  a  Liberal;  he  might  even  have  been  called 
a  Radical,  while  Breve  was  a  Conservative,  and  like  all 
Germans  in  the  Russian  Government  service  was  devoted 
to  Orthodoxy.  The  Secretary  disliked  him  personally 
and  envied  him  on  account  of  his  position. 

"And  how  about  the  Skoptzy"1  asked  the  Secretary. 

1  Eunuchs.     A  religious  sect. — TR. 


"THE   FAMOUS   LAWYER,   WITH    HIS   SHINING   SHIRT-BOSOM 


RESURRECTION  29 

"  I  told  you  it  could  not  be  heard  for  lack  of  witnesses," 
replied  the  Prosecutor.  "I  shall  say  so  to  the  Court." 

"  What  difference  does  that  make  ?" 

"It  can't  be  done,"  replied  the  latter,  and  still  swinging 
his  arm  he  ran  into  the  Lobby.  He  had  availed  him 
self  of  the  absence  of  an  unimportant  and  superfluous 
witness,  to  postpone  the  case  of  the  Skoptzy,  simply  be 
cause  if  this  case  were  to  be  tried  in  a  Court  where  the 
jury  was  composed  of  intelligent  men,  the  accused  might 
possibly  be  acquitted.  It  appears  that  he  had  connived 
with  the  Presiding  Justice  to  transfer  this  case  to  a  session 
held  in  a  provincial  town,  where  most  of  the  jurymen 
would  be  .peasants,  thereby  increasing  the  chances  for 
conviction. 

The  crowd  in  the  corridor  continued  to  increase.  A 
large  group  of  men  gathered  at  the  door  of  the  Civil 
Court  were  listening  to  the  discussion  of  the  case  by  a 
good-looking  juror,  evidently  a  connoisseur  in  such  mat 
ters.  The  old  lady  who  had  been  despoiled  of  her 
estate  by  the  craftiness  of  the  gifted  lawyer  acting  in 
behalf  of  a  sharper  who  had  not  the  slightest  right  to  it, 
came  out  during  recess.  The  Judges  were  as  well  aware 
of  this  as  the  plaintiff  and  his  lawyer.  But  the  present 
ment  of  the  case  was  such  that  it  was  impossible  not  to 
take  the  old  lady's  property  and  give  it  to  the  sharper. 
The  old  lady  was  a  stout  personage  in  a  gaudy  dress  and 
a  bonnet  trimmed  with  enormous  flowers.  She  stood 
at  the  hall  door  with  her  lawyer,  gesticulating  wildly 
and  saying  over  and  over  again: 

"  Well,  then,  what  are  you  going  to  do,  I  should  like  to 
know!  Tell  me  that!" 

The  lawyer  gazed  abstractedly  at  the  flowers  on  her 
bonnet,  evidently  unconscious  of  what  she  said. 

The  famous  lawyer  with  his  shining  shirt-bosom  came 
out  next.  His  self-complacent  countenance  shone,  too, 
for  had  he  not  succeeded  in  impoverishing  the  old  lady 
with  the  gay  bonnet  and  enriching  his  client,  who  was 


30  RESURRECTION 

to  pay  him  ten  thousand  roubles  out  of  the  one  hundred 
thousand  roubles  which  he  had  just  won?  He  was 
conscious  that  every  eye  was  fixed  upon  him  and  seemed 
to  say:  "There  is  no  need  of  any  expressions  of  devo 
tion!  I  know  what  you  feel."  And  he  quickly  passed 
through  the  crowd. 


VII. 

MATVEY  NiKfxicn  arrived  at  last.  An  officer  of  the 
Court,  a  gaunt-looking  man  with  a  long  neck  and  uneven 
gait,  his  lower  lip  slightly  protruding,  entered  the  jury- 
room.  This  man  was  an  honest  fellow  who  had  had  the 
advantages  of  University  training,  but  who  could  never 
keep  a  position  for  any  length  of  time  because  of  his 
periodical  sprees.  Three  months  ago,  a  countess,  a 
patroness  of  his  wife,  had  obtained  this  one  for  him,  and 
he  was  rejoicing  that  he  had  succeeded  in  keeping  it  so 
long. 

"Are  all  the  gentlemen  here?"  he  asked,  putting  on 
his  glasses  and  glancing  over  them. 

"I  believe  so/'  replied  the  jovial  merchant. 

"We  will  call  the  list,"  said  the  officer,  and  taking  it 
from  his  pocket  he  began  to  read,  looking  at  those  whose 
names  he  called,  sometimes  over  his  spectacles  and  some 
times  through  them. 

"Civil  Counselor  I.  M.  Nikfforof!" 

"Present!"  said  a  dignified-looking  gentleman,  a  man 
familiar  with  legal  affairs. 

"Ex-Colonel  Ivan  Semi6novitch  Iv£nof!" 

"Present!"  replied  a  lean  man  in  the  uniform  of  a 
retired  officer. 

"Merchant  of  the  Second   Guild,  Pi6tr  Baklashdf!" 

"Ay,  ay,"  said  the  good-humored  merchant,  grinning. 
"Ready!" 

"Lieutenant  of  the  Guards,  Prince  Dmitri  Xekhludof!" 


RESURRECTION  31 

"I  am  he,"  replied  Nekhludof. 

The  Court  officer  glanced  at  him  over  his  glasses  and 
bowed  to  him  with  a  pleasant  and  courteous  expression,  as 
if  he  thought  it  respectful  to  distinguish  him  from  the 
others.  lt  Captain  Youri  Dmitrievitch  Danche'nko,  mer 
chant  Gregory  Yefeemovitch  Kuleshof,"  and  so  on. 

All  but  two  were  present. 

"Then,  gentlemen,  please  proceed  to  the  court-room," 
said  the  officer,  courteously  pointing  towards  the  door; 
and  only  pausing  to  make  way  for  each  other  as  they 
passed  through  the  door,  the  jurors  entered  the  court 
room. 

This  was  a  long  and  spacious  hall.  At  one  end  of  the 
room  three  steps  led  up  to  a  platform,  in  the  middle  of 
which  stood  a  table.  This  was  covered  with  green  broad 
cloth  trimmed  with  fringe  of  still  darker  shade.  Three 
easy-chairs  with  high  carved  backs  were  placed  behind  it, 
and  on  the  wall  beyond  hung  a  life-sized  portrait  of  the 
Emperor,  dressed  in  the  uniform  of  a  general  and  with 
the  wide  ribbon  of  some  order  across  his  breast.  He 
stood  with  one  foot  advanced,  grasping  the  hilt  of  his 
sword.  In  the  right-hand  corner  of  the  hall  was  a  shrine 
with  the  image  of  Christ  wearing  the  crown  of  thorns 
upon  his  head;  a  high  lectern  stood  in  front  of  it,  and 
somewhat  farther  towards  the  right  was  the  desk  of  the 
Public  Prosecutor.  On  the  left  and  opposite  the  desk 
was  the  Secretary's  table,  and  still  nearer  to  the  public 
an  oaken  railing  behind  which  was  the  empty  bench 
where  the  accused  were  to  sit.  On  a  platform  towards  the 
right  were  placed  two  rows  of  high-backed  chairs  intended 
for  the  jurors,  and  underneath  this  platform  were  the 
tables  for  the  lawyers.  The  railing  divided  the  hall  into 
two  parts,  and  all  this  was  in  front  of  it.  The  rear  end 
was  entirely  filled  with  benches,  rising  tier  after  tier, 
till  they  reached  the  wall.  At  the  back  of  the  hall  four 
women  were  seated  on  the  front  benches — they  might 
have  been  servants  or  possibly  factory  girls  —  and  two 


32  RESURRECTION 

men,  also  of  the  laboring  class,  all  evidently  overawed 
by  the  imposing  decorations  of  the  hall  and  talking 
timidly  in  whispers. 

Soon  after  the  jurymen  entered,  the  Court  officer 
stepped  forward  in  his  sliding  fashion  and  called  out  as  if 
he  meant  to  overwhelm  his  listeners  with  awe: 

"The  Court  is  coming!" 

Every  one  rose,  and  the  Court  entered.  The  Presiding 
Justice  with  his  powerful  muscles  and  elegant  side- 
whiskers  came  first,  followed  by  the  gloomy  Member  in 
gold  spectacles,  whose  former  depression  had  grown  a 
shade  deeper,  for  just  before  he  entered  the  hall  he  met  his 
brother-in-law,  a  candidate  for  some  position  in  the 
Government  Law  Department,  and  the  latter  had  told 
him  that  he  had  just  been  to  call  on  his  sister  and  that 
she  had  casually  mentioned  the  fact  that  there  would  be 
no  dinner  in  the  house  that  day. 

"  It  looks  as  if  we  should  have  to  go  to  some  restaurant 
or  other,"  said  the  brother-in-law,  laughing. 

"I  don't  see  where  the  joke  comes  in!"  replied  the 
gloomy  Member  of  the  Court,  and  grew  gloomier  than 
ever. 

And  last  of  all  came  the  third  Member  of  the  Court, 
one  Matvey  Nikitich,  who  was  always  late,  a  bearded 
man  with  kind  eyes,  large  and  slanting.  He  suffered 
from  a  catarrhal  affection  of  the  stomach  and  had  by  the 
advice  of  his  doctor  begun  a  new  treatment  that  very 
morning,  and  that  was  the  reason  why  he  was  later  even 
than  usual.  As  he  came  up  the  steps,  his  face  wore  an 
expression  of  deep  concentration.  He  had  a  curious 
belief  in  the  doctrine  of  chances,  and  the  habit  of  specu 
lating  on  all  sorts  of  subjects.  Just  now  he  was  counting 
the  number  of  steps  from  the  chairs  to  the  door  of  the 
Lobby  and  if  the  number  could  be  divided  by  three  leav 
ing  no  remainder,  the  new  treatment  would  cure  his 
catarrh,  but  if  it  could  not  be  so  divided  there  was  no 
chance  for  him.  When  he  discovered  that  there  were 


RESURRECTION  33 

exactly  twenty-six  steps,  he  added  a  short  one  to  make 
twenty-seven,  and  then  he  took  his  seat. 

The  Presiding  Justice  and  the  Associate  Judges,  who 
had  stepped  upon  the  platform,  arrayed  in  uniforms 
with  gold-embroidered  collars,  presented  an  imposing 
appearance.  They  realized  the  fact  themselves,  and  as 
though  overcome  by  a  sense  of  their  own  grandeur  kept 
their  eyes  cast  down  and  lost  no, time  in  taking  their  seats 
behind  the  table  covered  with  the  green  cloth.  On  this 
table  stood  the  three-cornered  article  surmounted  by  the 
eagle,  several  of  those  glass  jars  commonly  used  to  hold 
candy  that  one  sees  in  restaurants,  an  inkstand,  pens, 
and  newly  sharpened  pencils  of  different  sizes.  The 
Public  Prosecutor  came  in  with  the  Judges,  swinging  his 
arm  as  usual.  With  the  portfolio  tucked  under  his  arm, 
he  reached  his  seat  and  became  instantly  absorbed  in 
reading  up  the  case,  taking  advantage  of  every  moment 
to  prepare  himself.  It  was  only  his  fourth  indictment. 
He  was  very  ambitious  and  determined  to  make  his  way, 
and  his  idea  was  that  he  must  obtain  a  conviction  in 
every  case  that  he  prosecuted.  He  knew  the  general 
facts  of  this  poisoning  case  and  had  the  skeleton  of  his 
address  already  sketched,  but  he  still  lacked  certain 
facts  and  he  was  hurriedly  searching  for  them  and  taking 
notes.  The  Secretary  sat  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  plat 
form,  and  having  prepared  all  the  papers  which  he  was 
likely  to  require,  was  reading  over  an  article  forbidden 
by  the  Censor  which  he  had  obtained  the  day  before. 
He  was  to  discuss  it  with  the  bearded  Member  of  the 
Court,  who  shared  his  views,  but  he  wished  to  be  thor 
oughly  posted  before  he  began  the  discussion. 

VIII. 

THE  Presiding  Justice  examined  the  papers,  asked  a 
few  questions  of  the  Court  officer,  and  having  received 
answers  in  the  affirmative  ordered  the  prisoners  to  be 

VOL.   I.— 3 


34  RESURRECTION 

brought  into  Court.  Forthwith  the  door  of  the  grating 
opened  and  the  first  persons  who  appeared  were  two 
gendarmes  wearing  their  caps  on  their  heads,  and  carry 
ing  unsheathed  swords  in  their  hands.  They  were  fol 
lowed  by  three  prisoners;  one  was  a  red-haired,  freckled- 
faced  peasant,  the  other  two  were  women.  The  man 
wore  the  prison  dress,  which  was  both  too  wide  and  too 
long  for  him.  To  prevent  his  long  sleeves  from  slipping 
down,  he  held  his  arms  close  to  his  sides  with  his  thumbs 
thrust  out.  He  looked  neither  at  the  Judges  nor  at  the  pub 
lic,  but  kept  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  bench  he  was  approach 
ing.  Passing  to  the  further  end  of  it,  he  carefully  made 
room  for  the  others;  then,  taking  his  seat  on  the  very 
edge,  he  looked  at  the  Presiding  Justice  and  his  cheeks 
twitched,  as  though  he  were  muttering  something.  He 
was  followed  by  an  elderly  woman  with  red  eyes,  who  also 
wore  the  prisoners'  garb.  A  kerchief  was  tied  around  her 
head.  Her  face  with  its  red  eyes  was  of  an  ashen-gray 
tone,  and  had  neither  eyebrows  nor  lashes.  She  seemed 
perfectly  composed,  for  as  she  passed  to  take  her  seat, 
pausing  to  detach  her  wrapper  from  some  impediment, 
she  released  it  carefully  and  without  haste. 

M£slova  was  the  third  prisoner. 

As  she  came  in,  every  man,  attracted  by  those  shining 
black  eyes  contrasted  with  her  white  face  and  by  her  finely 
molded  figure,  riveted  his  eyes  upon  her.  Even  the 
gendarme,  as  she  passed  him,  gazed  after  her  until  she  was 
seated,  and  then  with  a  guilty  look  turned  away  hastily 
and  looked  steadily  at  the  window  in  front  of  him. 

The  Presiding  Justice  was  waiting  until  the  prisoners 
#ere  seated,  and  as  soon  as  M£slova  was  in  her  seat  he 
spoke  to  the  Secretary.  The  Court  then  proceeded  to  its 
regular  business:  first  the  roll-call  of  the  jury,  then  dis 
cussions  in  regard  to  those  who  failed  to  put  in  an  ap 
pearance,  followed  by  the  imposition  of  fines,  the  allow 
ances  made  for  those  who  had  some  excuse,  and  the  filling 
UD  of  vacancies  in  the  jury  from  the  reserve  list.  After  roll- 


RESURRECTION  35 

ing  the  tickets,  the  Presiding  Justice  placed  them  in  the 
glass  vase,  then  with  all  the  gestures  of  a  showman  he 
proceeded  to  turn  up  his  gold-embroidered  sleeves,  re 
vealing  his  hairy  arms;  he  took  out  the  slips  one  by  one, 
unrolling  and  reading  each  one  as  he  withdrew  it  from 
the  jar.  Then  letting  down  his  sleeves  he  made  a  sign 
to  the  priest  to  swear  in  the  jury. 

The  old  priest,  with  his  sallow,  pale,  and  puffy  face,  his 
brown  vestment,  his  gold  cross  hanging  from  his  neck,  and 
a  trifling  decoration  pinned  on  one  side  of  his  breast, 
shuffled  towards  the  lectern  which  stood  beneath  the 
ikon. 

The  jurymen  rose  and  crowded  round  the  lectern. 

"Come  forward,"  he  said,  touching  the  cross  with  his 
fat  hand,  as  he  stood  awaiting  the  approach  of  the  body 
of  the  jurors. 

He  had  been  a  priest  for  forty  years.  Soon  he  would  be 
celebrating  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  consecration,  as 
the  Cathedral  arch-priest  had  recently  celebrated  his  an 
niversary.  He  had  served  in  the  Circuit  Court  since  the 
opening  of  the  new  Law  Courts  and  was  proud  to  have 
sworn  in  many  thousands  of  men,  and  also  proud  that  in 
his  old  age  he  was  still  able  to  labor  for  the  prosperity  of 
the  Church  of  his  native  land,  and  of  his  family,  to  whom 
he  expected  to  leave  thirty  thousand  roubles  in  securities 
that  paid  good  interest  without  mentioning  the  house  they 
lived  in.  That  his  labor  in  Court,  that  is  to  say  the  admin 
istration  of  the  oath  upon  the  Bible,  which,  by  the  way,  is 
expressly  forbidden  therein,  was  not  of  a  virtuous  charac 
ter,  never  once  entered  his  head,  and  it  was  anything  but 
irksome  to  him,  for  he  really  loved  it.  It  brought  him  in 
contact  with  men  of  wealth  and  influence.  Just  now  he 
was  pleased  to  meet  that  famous  lawyer  who  had  won  his 
respect  by  making  ten  thousand  roubles  out  of  the  case 
that  went  against  the  old  lady  with  the  beflowered  bonnet. 
When  the  jury  had  mounted  the  platform  the  priest  thrust 
his  gray,  bald  head  into  the  greasy  opening  of  the  stole, 


36  RESURRECTION 

and  then  after  rearranging  his  thin  and  scattered  locks, 
addressed  the  jury. 

"  Raise  your  right  hand  and  place  your  fingers  like  this," 
he  said  in  his  slow,  tremulous  voice,  as  he  lifted  his  plump 
and  dimpled  hand  and  bent  his  thumb  with  his  first  two 
fingers.  "  Now  repeat  after  me :  '  I  promise  and  swear 
by  the  Almighty  God,  His  holy  Gospels  and  Our  Lord's 
Life-giving  cross,  that  in  this  matter  which.  .  .'"he 
paused  after  each  sentence.  "  Don't  lower  your  arm,"  he 
said,  addressing  a  young  juror  who  had  dropped  his  arm, 
" '  in  this  matter  which ' " 

The  dignified  personage  with  the  side-whiskers,  the 
colonel,  the  merchant,  and  a  few  of  the  others  held  their 
hands  aloft,  with  the  fingers  bent,  exactly  as  the 
priest  required,  and  seemed  quite  enthusiastic;  others 
were  reluctant  and  indifferent  about  it.  Some  repeated 
the  words  loudly  and  defiantly,  so  to  speak;  others  hardly 
spoke  above  their  breath,  too  slowly  at  times,  and  then 
with  a  rush  as  though  fearing  to  be  left  behind.  Some 
held  their  bent  fingers  tightly  pressed  together,  as  though 
they  were  afraid  of  dropping  something;  others  held  them 
loosely  for  a  while,  then  suddenly  compressed  them. 
Every  one  but  the  old  priest  felt  more  or  less  uncomfort 
able.  He,  however,  had  never  a  shadow  of  doubt  that 
the  function  he  was  performing  was  both  useful  and 
important.  After  the  oath  had  been  received,  the  Pre 
siding  Justice  requested  the  jurymen  to  select  a  foreman. 

They  rose  and  jostling  one  another  hurried  into  the 
jury-room,  where  most  of  them  instantly  produced  their 
cigarettes  and  began  to  smoke.  Somebody  suggested 
that  the  stately  personage  would  be  a  suitable  foreman, 
to  which  all  at  once  agreed,  and  having  extinguished  and 
thrown  away  their  cigarettes  they  went  back  to  the  court 
room.  The  foreman  having  notified  the  Court  of  the 
selection  which  had  been  made,  they  once  more  resumed 
their  seats  in  the  double  rows  of  high-backed  chairs 
which  had  been  prepared  for  them. 


RESURRECTION  37 

All  went  smoothly,  without  a  hitch  and  with  a  certain 
degree  of  solemnity,  and  this  decorum  evidently  com 
mended  itself  to  the  participants,  confirming  them  in  the 
belief  that  they  were  performing  an  important  public 
function.  Nekhliidof  himself  was  deeply  impressed. 

After  they  were  seated  the  Presiding  Justice  explained 
to  them  their  rights,  duties,  and  responsibilities.  All  the 
while  he  was  addressing  them,  he  was  in  perpetual  motion; 
now  he  leaned  on  one  arm  of  the  chair,  now  on  the  other, 
now  he  flung  himself  against  the  back  of  it.  He  stooped 
over  the  table,  straightening  the  papers  in  front  of  him, 
stroking  the  paper  cutter,  and  fingering  the  pencils. 

It  was  their  right,  he  said,  to  question  the  accused 
through  the  medium  of  the  Presiding  Justice,  and  they 
were  allowed  pencil  and  paper  and  the  privilege  of  examin 
ing  the  articles  of  material  evidence.  It  was  their  duty 
to  pronounce  an  honest  verdict.  They  were  responsible 
for  preserving  the  secrecy  of  their  deliberations,  any  be 
trayal  of  which  would  render  them  liable  to  the  penalty  of 
the  law. 

He  was  listened  to  with  respectful  attention.  The  mer 
chant,  diffusing  around  him  the  fumes  of  wine  and  trying 
to  suppress  his  hiccoughs,  nodded  his  approval  of  every 
sentence. 

IX. 

HAVING  finished  his  speech,  the  Presiding  Justice  ad 
dressed  the  criminals. 

"Simon  Kartinkin,  rise!"  he  said. 

Simon  sprang  to  his  feet,  the  muscles  of  his  cheeks 
twitching  with  nervous  excitement. 

"Your  name?" 

"Simon  Petrdv  Kartinkin,"  he  answered  in  loud  tones, 
as  if  he  had  been  prepared  for  certain  questions  and  had 
his  answers  ready. 

"To  what  class  do  you  belong?" 


38  RESURRECTION 

"I  am  a  peasant." 

"In  what  government  and  district  do  you  live?" 

"Tula  Government,  district  of  Krapivensk,  parish  of 
Kupiansk,  village  of  B6rki." 

"Ho wold  are  you?" 

"Thirty-three;  I  was  born  in  18— ." 

"  Of  what  religion  are  you  ?" 

"Orthodox." 

"Married?" 

"No,  sir." 

"What  is  your  occupation?" 

"I  was  employed  as  indoors  man  in  the  hotel  'Mavri- 
tania.'" 

"Were  you  ever  brought  into  Court  before?" 

"No,  never;  because  before  we  lived — " 

"You  were  not?" 

"Never,  so  help  me  God!" 

"Have  you  a  copy  of  the  indictment?" 

"I  have." 

"Sit  down.  Evfdmia  Ivanovna  Botchkdva!"  he  con 
tinued,  turning  to  the  woman  who  sat  next. 

But  Simon  remained  standing,  and  consequently 
Botchkdva  was  invisible. 

"Sit  down,  Kartinkin!" 

But  Kartmkin  did  not  sit  down. 

"Sit  down,  Kartinkin!" 

And  still  Kartinkin  continued  to  stand  and  was  only  in 
duced  to  seat  himself  after  an  officer  of  the  Court  with  an 
insistent  sideway  gesture  of  the  head  and  eyes  opened  wide 
with  indignation  whispered  in  tragic  tones: 

"Sit  down!  down!" 

Kartmkin  took  his  seat  as  swiftly  as  he  had  risen  from 
it,  and  drew  his  prison  cloak  around  him,  while  the  same 
convulsive  twitching  of  his  cheeks  began  again. 

Pursuing  his  search  among  the  papers  before  him  and 
without  so  much  as  glancing  towards  the  woman,  the  Pre 
siding  Justice,  heaving  a  weary  sigh,  put  the  first  question, 


THE  JURY 


RESURRECTION  39 

"Your  name ?"  All  this  was  a  mere  matter  of  routine 
for  the  Presiding  Justice,  and  in  order  to  expedite  affairs 
he  could  do  two  things  at  once. 

Botchkova  was  forty-four  years  old,  a  mezchdnka  of 
Kaldmna,  a  chambermaid  in  the  same  Hotel  Mavritania. 
She  had  never  been  arrested  before  and  had  also  received 
a  copy  of  the  indictment.  She  answered  boldly,  and  the 
tone  of  her  voice  seemed  to  say:  "  Yes,  my  name  is  Evfe*- 
mia  Botchkova,  and  I  have  received  a  copy  of  the  indict 
ment  and  I'm  proud  of  it  and  nobody  need  think  he  has 
a  right  to  laugh  at  it."  As  soon  as  the  questions  had  been 
answered,  she  sat  down  again  without  waiting  to  be  told 
to  do  so. 

"Your  name?"  amiably  inquired  the  susceptible  Pre 
siding  Justice,  addressing  the  third  prisoner.  "You 
should  rise,"  he  added  gently,  noticing  that  Ma"slova 
still  kept  her  seat. 

Maslova  promptly  rose  and  throwing  back  her  shoulders 
fixed  her  smiling  black  eyes  with  their  barely  perceptible 
squint  upon  the  Presiding  Justice,  but  she  spoke  not  a 
word. 

"  What  do  they  call  you  ?" 

"Lubdv,"  she  replied  without  hesitation. 

Meanwhile  Nekhliidof  had  put  on  his  pince-nez  and  as 
the  prisoners  were  examined,  he  scrutinized  each  one  in 
turn.  "Impossible!"  he  thought,  letting  his  eyes  rest  on 
this  prisoner's  face.  How  could  it  be  possible  ?  Lub6v  ? 
He  turned  the  name  over  in  his  mind. 

The  Presiding  Justice  was  just  going  on  to  the  next 
question,  when  the  Associate  Member  in  spectacles  whis 
pered  impatiently  in  his  ear.  The  Presiding  Justice 
nodded  and  turning  to  the  criminal,  "How  can  it  be 
Lubov  ?"  he  asked.  "That  is  not  the  name  entered  here." 

The  prisoner  was  silent. 

"  I  am  asking  you  for  your  real  name.  The  one  given 
you  in  baptism.  What  is  that?"  inquired  the  indignant 
Judge. 


40  RESURRECTION 

"They  called  me  Katerma." 

Although  Nekhliidof  said  to  himself  over  and  over  again 
that  this  could  never  be  the  girl  his  aunts  had  brought  up, 
the  maid  with  whom  he  had  been  in  love,  then  thought 
lessly  seduced  and  forsaken,  yet  he  felt  almost  sure  that  it 
was.  It  had  not  been  a  very  pleasant  episode  to  remem 
ber,  and  so  he  seldom  allowed  himself  to  think  of  it.  The 
fact  remained  that  he  who  had  so  prided  himself  on  his 
good  breeding  had  proved  to  be  anything  but  a  gentle 
man.  He  had  played  a  contemptible  part  with  this 
woman. 

Yes,  it  was  she.  There  was  no  mistaking  the  mysterious 
individuality  that  nature  stamps  on  every  human  counte 
nance,  peculiar  to  itself,  that  differentiates  it  from  every 
other  in  the  world.  In  spite  of  its  unwholesome  pallor  and 
bloated  aspect,  her  face  retained  the  same  fascinating  ex 
pression  about  the  mouth,  the  eyes;  he  remembered  the 
characteristic  little  squint  and  the  air  of  submission  that 
seemed  to  belong  to  her  whole  personality. 

"Then  you  should  have  said  so  at  once."  The  voice 
of  the  Presiding  Justice  was  very  mild.  "What  is  your 
father's  name  ?" 

"I  am  illegitimate,"  she  replied. 

"Well,  then,  tell  us  your  godfather's  name." 

"Mikhailovna." 

"What  crime  can  she  possibly  have  committed?" 
thought  Nekhliidof.  He  found  it  difficult  to  breathe. 

"What  is  your  family  name;  your  last  name?"  re 
peated  the  Presiding  Justice. 

"They  called  me  Maslova,  like  my  mother." 

"What  class  do  you  belong  to?" 

"  Mezchdnka."1 

"Of  Orthodox  religion?" 

"Yes." 

"And  what  was  your  occupation?  How  did  you  sup 
port  yourself?" 

JOne  who  belongs  to  the  class  of  Mezchane  —  citizens  of  a  low  grade  or 
class.— Ta. 


RESURRECTION  41 

Maslova  made  no  reply. 

"What  was  your  occupation?"  he  repeated. 

"I  was  in  an  institution,"  she  said. 

"  What  sort  of  institution?"  asked  the  Member  in  spec 
tacles. 

His  tone  was  severe. 

"You  know  that  kind  of  house  well  enough,"  replied 
Maslova. 

With  a  swift  backward  glance  she  smiled  upon  him, 
then  turned  again,  and  gazed  at  the  Presiding  Justice. 

There  was  something  so  extraordinary  in  the  expression 
of  her  face,  something  so  pathetic,  so  awful  in  the  words 
she  had  just  uttered,  as  well  as  in  her  smile  and  in  that 
glance  which  she  cast  towards  the  rear  of  the  room,  that 
the  Presiding  Justice  lowered  his  eyes,  while  a  profound 
silence  reigned  in  the  hall. 

This  pause  was  suddenly  interrupted  by  the  sound  of 
laughter  followed  by  hissing.  The  Presiding  Justice 
raised  his  head  and  proceeded  with  the  questions. 

"  Were  you  ever  on  trial  before  ?" 

"No,"  said  Maslova,  with  a  gentle  sigh. 

"Have  you  received  a  copy  of  the  indictment?" 

"I  have." 

"You  may  take  your  seat." 

The  prisoner  arranged  her  skirt  with  the  same  move 
ment  that  a  well-dressed  woman  makes  when  she  adjusts 
her  train,  and  seating  herself  she  folded  her  small  white 
hands  inside  the  sleeves  of  her  prison  cloak,  and  resumed 
her  intent  gaze  at  the  Presiding  Justice. 

The  witnesses  were  now  called,  and  several  of  them  were 
rejected.  The  physician  who  was  to  act  as  expert  was 
chosen.  Then  the  Secretary  rose  and  read  the  indictment. 
He  read  loudly  and  distinctly,  but  far  too  rapidly,  and  his 
mispronunciation  of  every  /  and  r  gave  a  dreary  and  mo 
notonous  effect  to  his  reading.  The  Judges  were  restless. 
They  sat  with  their  elbows  on  the  table,  leaning  first 
on  one  arm,  then  on  the  other.  Now  and  then  they  closed 


42  RESURRECTION 

their  eyes  and  whispered  to  one  another,  while  a  gendarme 
was  seen  trying  to  repress  an  incipient  yawn. 

Kartlnkin  kept  moving  his  jaws  all  the  time,  and  Botch- 
kdva,  who  sat  quite  still,  occasionally  thrust  her  finger 
under  her  kerchief  to  scratch  her  head. 

M^slova  was  also  quiet,  listening  to  the  reader,  with  her 
eyes  fixed  upon  his  face.  Now  and  then  she  started,  as 
though  she  were  about  to  speak,  then  changed  color, 
sighed,  shifted  the  position  of  her  hands,  and  again 
looked  steadily  at  the  reader. 

Nekhludof  sat  in  his  high-backed  chair,  the  second  chair 
from  the  end  in  the  front  row.  He  never  took  off  his 
pince-nez,  but  sat  staring  hard  at  Maslova,  while  a  fierce 
and  agonizing  conflict  raged  in  his  soul. 

X. 

THE  indictment  read  as  follows :  On  the  1 7th  January, 
1 88-,  the  proprietor  of  the  Hotel  Mavritania  informed 
the  police  of  the  sudden  death  of  a  Siberian  merchant 
belonging  to  the  Second  Guild,  Ferap6nt  Smelkof.  The 
doctor  of  the  fourth  district  testified  that  Smelkdf's 
death  was  caused  by  a  rupture  of  the  heart,  induced  by  the 
excessive  use  of  liquor,  and  on  the  third  day  his  body  was 
buried.  But  on  the  fourth  day  after  his  death  came  the 
Siberian  merchant  Timokhin,  who,  learning  of  his  friend's 
death  and  the  attendant  circumstances,  declared  his 
suspicion  that  Smelkdf's  death  did  not  proceed  from 
natural  causes.  He  felt  sure  that  his  friend  had  been 
poisoned  by  malefactors,  who  stole  his  money  and  dia 
mond  ring,  which  could  not  be  found  when  the  inventory 
was  taken,  whereupon  an  investigation  was  ordered 
which  brought  to  the  light  the  following  facts : 

I.  That  the  proprietor  of  the  Hotel  Mavritania,  as 
well  as  the  clerk  of  a  merchant  —  Starikdf  by  name — with 
whom  Smelkdf  had  some  business  transactions,  had 
known  that  he,  Smelkdf,  had  in  his  possession  three 


RESURRECTION  43 

thousand  eight  hundred  roubles  which  he  had  received 
from  the  Bank,  whereas  all  that  was  found  in  his  valise, 
which  was  sealed  after  his  death,  and  in  his  pocketbook, 
was  the  sum  of  three  hundred  and  twelve  roubles  and 
sixteen  copecks. 

II.  That  Smelkdf  had  spent  the  day  and  the  night 
previous  to  his  death  with  the  prostitute  Liibka,  who  at 
two  different  times  had  gone  into  his  room. 

III.  That  said  prostitute  had  sold  Smelkdf's  diamond 
ring  to  the  keeper  of  the  Public  House  where  she  lived. 

IV.  That  on  the  day  following  Smelkdf's  death  the 
chambermaid,  Evfemia  Botchkdva,  carried  to  the  Com 
mercial  Bank  and  deposited  in  her  own  name  the  sum 
of  eighteen  hundred  roubles. 

V.  That    from    the    examination    of    said    prostitute 
Liibka,  it  was  discovered  that  the  waiter  Simon  Kartin- 
kin  had  given  said  Liibka  a  certain  powder  advising  her 
to  put  it  in  Smelkof's  wine  and  to  make  him  drink  it, 
which  according  to  her  own  confession  said  Liibka  had 
done. 

At  the  examination  of  said  Liibka  she  had  testified 
that  during  the  merchant  Smelkof's  stay  in  the  House  for 
Prostitutes  where  she  "worked,"  as  she  expressed  it,  he 
had  sent  her  into  the  room  which  he  was  occupying  in 
said  Mavritania  to  fetch  him  some  money,  and  that  hav 
ing  unlocked  his  valise  with  the  key  he  had  given  her, 
she  had  opened  it  and  had  taken  out  forty  roubles  just 
as  he  had  directed,  but  no  more.  Simon  Kartinkin  and 
Evfemia  Botchkdva  could  both  testify  that  what  she  said 
was  true,  for  it  was  in  their  presence  that  she  had  unlocked 
the  valise,  taken  out  the  money,  and  locked  the  valise 
again. 

In  regard  to  the  poisoning  of  Smelk6f  said  Liibka 
testified  that  when  she  came  to  his  room  for  the  third 
time,  she  had  at  the  instigation  of  Simon  Kartinkin 
given  him  a  glass  of  cognac  into  which  she  had  put  some 
thing —  she  thought  it  was  a  powder  to  make  him  sleep 


44  RESURRECTION 

— so  that  she  could  get  away  from  him;  but  that  she  had 
taken  no  money  whatever.  She  said  that  Smelkdf 
gave  her  the  ring  when  she  threatened  to  leave  him  be 
cause  he  struck  her. 

At  the  cross-examination  of  the  witnesses,  Evfemia 
Botchk6va  testified  that  she  knew  nothing  whatever 
about  the  disappearance  of  the  money,  that  she  had 
never  gone  into  Smelkof's  room,  and  that  said  Liibka 
was  the  only  person  who  had  entered  it.'  That  if  any 
thing  was  stolen  said  Liibka  must  have  been  the  one  who 
did  it,  when  she  went  to  the  room  to  fetch  the  money  and 
used  the  merchant's  key. 

When  this  was  read,  Maslova  trembled  all  over  and 
gazed  at  Botchkdva  open-mouthed. 

That  when  Evfemia  Botchkova  was  shown  the  bank 
receipt  for  the  eighteen  hundred  roubles,  the  reader 
continued,  and  asked  how  she  had  come  by  such  a  sum, 
she  testified  that  it  was  what  she  and  Simon  had  been 
saving  for  twelve  years,  and  that  she  was  going  to  marry 
him. 

At  this  first  examination  said  Simon  Kartinkin  had 
confessed  that  he  and  Botchkdva  had, — at  the  instiga 
tion  of  Mdslova,  who  had  come  from  a  Public  House 
with  a  key,  —  taken  the  money  and  divided  it  between 
Maslova,  Botchkdva,  and  himself;  he  also  confessed  that 
he  had  given  Maslova  the  sleeping  powders  which  she 
was  to  use  to  put  the  merchant  to  sleep;  but  when  he  was 
examined  the  second  time  he  denied  that  he  had  taken 
any  part  in  the  affair  and  accused  Maslova  as  the  sole 
culprit.  Concerning  the  money  which  Botchkdva  had 
deposited  in  the  Bank,  he  testified,  just  as  she  did,  that 
the  money  was  the  fruit  of  their  united  earnings  — 
chiefly  fees  received  from  guests — during  the  eighteen 
years  they  had  served  in  the  hotel. 

In  order  to  verify  the  accusation  of  poison,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  exhume  Smelk6f  s  body  and  to  make  a 
post-mortem  examination  of  his  internal  organs  and  as- 


RESURRECTION  45 

certain  what  chemical  changes  had  taken  place.  The 
examination  of  the  internal  organs  showed  that  merchant 
Smelkdf  s  death  was  caused  by  poisoning.  This  was 
followed  by  the  preliminary  examination  of  the  witnesses 
and  of  their  evidence.  The  indictment  concluded  as 
follows: 

"Smelkof,  merchant  of  the  Second  Guild,  being  ad 
dicted  to  drink  and  debauchery  and  having  intimate  re 
lations  with  a  certain  woman  called  Lubka,  with  whom, 
on  the  seventeenth  day  of  January,  188-,  while  in  the 
House  for  Prostitutes  kept  by  one  Kitaev,  he  had  be 
come  violently  infatuated,  had  sent  the  aforesaid  prosti 
tute  Liibka  with  the  key  of  his  valise  to  the  hotel  room 
he  occupied  to  fetch  him  forty  roubles  to  pay  for  a  treat. 
That  said  Lubka  having  entered  said  room  and  while 
in  the  act  of  taking  the  money  from  the  valise  did  con 
spire  with  Botchkova  and  Kartinkin  to  steal  and  divide 
among  themselves  all  the  money  and  valuables  of  said 
merchant  Smelkdf.  This  design  was  accomplished." 

Here  it  was  observed  that  Mdslova  trembled  again  and 
half  rose  from  her  feet,  while  a  deep  crimson  color  suffused 
her  face.  "At  which  time,"  continued  the  Secretary, 
"the  diamond  ring — and  very  likely  a  small  sum  of 
money  —  was  given  to  Maslova,  which  she,  being  in 
toxicated  that  night,  had  either  lost  or  hidden.  Now 
in  order  to  conceal  the  traces  of  the  crime,  the  accomplices 
decided  to  coax  said  Smelkof  back  to  his  room  in  the 
hotel  and  there  to  poison  him  with  arsenic.  With  that 
intention  said  Maslova  had  returned  to  the  House  of 
Prostitutes  and  there  persuaded  said  Smelkdf  to  go 
back  with  her  to  his  own  quarters  in  the  hotel,  and  then 
having  received  the  powders  from  said  Kartinkin,  the 
said  Maslova  had  put  them  into  the  wine  which  she 
gave  Smelkdf,  and  which  had  been  the  direct  cause  of 
his  death. 

"In  view  of  the  aforesaid,  Simon  Kartinkin,  peasant 
from  the  village  of  Borki,  thirty-three  years  of  age,  the 


46  RESURRECTION 

mezch£nka  Evfe'mia  Ivanovna  Botchkdva,  forty-three 
years  of  age,  and  the  mezchanka  Katerina  Mikai- 
lovna  Mdslova,  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  are  accused 
of  having,  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  January,  188-, 
stolen  merchant  Smelkdf  s  money  to  the  amount  of  two 
thousand  five  hundred  roubles,  plotted  together  to  kill 
him,  and  in  order  to  conceal  all  traces  of  their  crime  had 
given  him  poison  from  the  effects  of  which  he  had  died. 
"These  crimes  are  provided  for  in  section  1455  of  the 
Penal  Code.  Therefore  according  to  Art.  so  and  so 
of  the  Code  of  Criminal  Law  the  peasant  Simon  Kartinkin 
and  the  mezchankas  Evfemia  Botchkova  and  Katerina 
Maslova  are  to  be  tried  by  the  Judges  of  the  Circuit 
Court  and  a  jury."  Thus  ended  the  monotonous  read 
ing  of  the  long  indictment;  and  the  Secretary,  having 
collected  his  papers,  resumed  his  seat,  mechanically 
smoothing  his  long  hair.  Every  one  drew  a  long  breath, 
and  the  sense  of  relief  was  followed  by  the  more  pleasing 
anticipation  of  the  trial,  when  all  would  no  doubt  be 
made  clear  and  justice  would  be  satisfied.  Nekhludof 
was  the  sole  exception;  he  did  not  share  that  feeling.  He 
was  horrified  at  the  thought  of  what  Maslova,  the  charm 
ing  and  innocent  Maslova,  whom  he  knew  ten  years  ago, 
might  have  done. 

XI. 

WHEN  the  indictment  was  finished,  the  Presiding  Jus 
tice,  after  consultation  with  the  other  members  of  the 
Court,  turned  towards  Kartinkin  with  an  expression 
which  seemed  to  say,  "Now  we  are  going  to  get  at  the 
truth  of  the  matter." 

"Peasant  Simon  Kartinkin!"  he  said,  with  a  sidewise 
inclination  of  his  head.  Simon  Kartinkin  rose,  let  his 
arms  fall  along  his  sides,  and  stood  leaning  forward;  his 
lips  moved,  but  he  made  no  sound. 

"You  are  accused  of  having  on  the  iyth  of  January, 


RESURRECTION  47 

1 88-,  in  conjunction  with  Evfe*mia  Botchk<5va  and 
Katerina  Mdslova,  stolen  money  from  the  valise  of  mer 
chant  Smelk6f,  and  of  having  brought  the  poison  and  per 
suaded  Katerfna  Maslova  to  give  it  to  the  merchant 
Smelk6f  in  wine,  which  caused  his  death.  Do  you  plead 
guilty?" 

"I  couldn't  have  done  it,  because  our  business  is  to 
serve  the  guests " 

"You  will  have  a  chance  to  tell  us  about  that  later. 
Are  you  guilty  or  not  guilty?" 

"Not  at  all.     I  only " 

"You  may  say  that  later.  Do  you  plead  guilty?"  the 
Presiding  Justice  repeated  in  calm  but  resolute  accents. 

"I  could  not  have  done  it,  because ' 

Here  the  Court  officer  again  rushed  to  Simon  Kartinkin 
and  in  a  tragic  whisper  reduced  him  to  silence.  The 
Presiding  Justice  with  an  air  of  finality  changed  the  posi 
tion  of  his  arm  and  addressed  Evfemia  Botchkdva. 

"Evfe'mia  Botchkdva,  you  are  accused  of  having 
stolen  money  and  a  ring  from  the  valise  of  merchant 
Smelkdf  in  Hotel  Mavritania  on  the  iyth  of  January, 
1 88-,  and,  after  dividing  the  stolen  property  with  your 
accomplices,  of  poisoning  the  man  Smelkof,  from  the 
effect  of  which  poisoning  he  died.  Do  you  plead  guilty  ?" 

"I  am  not  guilty  of  anything,"  she  said  glibly.  "I 
did  not  go  into  the  room  at  all.  That  shameless  hussy 
must  have  done  the  business  when  she  came " 

"You  may  give  those  details  afterwards,"  repeated  the 
Presiding  Justice,  as  firmly  and  calmly  as  before.  "So 
you  do  not  plead  guilty  ?" 

"It  was  not  I  who  went  into  the  room;  I  never  per 
suaded  him  to  drink;  I  was  not  there  at  all.  If  I  had 
gone  into  the  room,  I  should  have  put  that  creature 
out." 

"Then  you  do  not  plead  guilty?" 

"Never." 

"Very  well." 


48  RESURRECTION 

"Katerina  Maslova,"  began  the  Presiding  Justice,  ad 
dressing  the  third  prisoner,  "you  are  accused  of  having 
come  from  the  Public  House  into  one  of  the  rooms  in  the 
Hotel  Mavritania,  having  the  key  of  merchant  Smelkof's 
valise  in  your  possession,  of  stealing  from  his  said  valise 
certain  money  and  a  ring."  He  uttered  these  words 
mechanically,  leaning  all  the  while  towards  the  Member 
on  the  left,  who  was  telling  him  that  from  among  the 
incriminating  articles,  the  glass  flask  was  still  missing, — 
"of  stealing  money  and  a  ring  from  the  valise,"  repeated 
the  Presiding  Justice;  "after  dividing  the  stolen  property 
it  is  affirmed  that  you  and  the  merchant  Smelkdf  came 
back  to  the  Hotel  Mavritania  together,  and  that  you 
gave  him  a  dose  of  poisoned  wine  which  caused  his  death. 
Do  you  plead  guilty?" 

"I  plead  guilty  to  nothing,"  she  began  rapidly;  "I 
repeat  what  I  said  before :  I  have  taken  nothing,  nothing, 
nothing  whatever.  He  gave  me  the  ring  of  his  own 
accord." 

"You  do  not  plead  guilty  to  having  stolen  two  thou 
sand  roubles?"  said  the  Presiding  Justice. 

"I  repeat  that  I  took  forty  roubles  and  no  more." 

"And  do  you  plead  guilty  to  having  given  merchant 
Smelk6f  drugged  wine?  Do  you  plead  guilty  to  that?" 

"  I  do.  I  gave  him  the  drugged  wine,  but  I  thought  it 
was  only  a  sleeping  powder;  I  was  told  so  and  that  it 
would  do  him  no  harm.  I  never  thought  of  such  a  thing 
as  killing  him.  It  never  entered  my  head.  I  speak  as  if 
I  were  in  the  presence  of  my  God.  I  never  meant  to  do 
it,"  she  said. 

"  So  you  do  not  plead  guilty  to  the  stealing  of  merchant 
Smelk6f's  money,  but  you  plead  to  having  given  him  the 
powder?" 

"Yes,  I  plead  guilty  to  that;  only  I  thought  they  were 
sleeping  powders,  and  I  gave  them  to  him  only  to  make 
him  sleep.  I  did  not  intend  to  kill  him;  such  an  idea 
never  entered  my  mind." 


"MASLOVA   FIXED    HER   SMILING   BLACK   EYES   UPON   THE 
PRESIDING   JUSTICE" 


RESURRECTION  49 

"Very  well,"  said  the  Presiding  Justice,  evidently  much 
gratified  with  the  result  he  had  obtained.  "  Then  tell  us 
how  it  came  about.  You  can  improve  your  position  by 
making  a  clean  breast  of  it.  Tell  us  all  the  circumstances," 
he  said,  leaning  against  the  back  of  his  chair  and  placing 
both  hands  on  the  table. 

Still  looking  him  straight  in  the  eye,  Ma"slova  remained 
silent. 

"Tell  us  how  it  all  happened." 

"How  it  happened?"  she  began  to  speak  very  fast;  "I 
drove  to  the  hotel.  Some  one  showed  me  the  way  to  his 
room.  He  was  there  and  even  then  he  was  quite  drunk." 
She  pronounced  the  word  "he"  with  an  indescribable  ac 
cent  of  terror.  "  I  wanted  to  leave  him,  but  he  would  not 
let  me." 

She  relapsed  into  silence,  as  though  she  had  suddenly 
lost  the  thread  of  her  recollections  and  was  thinking  of 
something  else. 

"And  what  then?" 

"What  then?  I  remained  awhile  and  then  I  went 
home." 

The  Assistant  Prosecutor  half  rose  from  his  chair,  lean 
ing  on  one  elbow. 

"You  have  a  question  to  ask ?"  inquired  the  Presiding 
Justice,  and  on  receiving  an  affirmative  reply,  indicated 
by  a  gesture  that  he  was  at  liberty  to  do  so. 

"I  should  like  to  ask  if  the  prisoner  has  had  any  pre 
vious  acquaintance  with  Simon  Kartinkin  ?"  he  said,  with 
out  looking  at  Mdslova.  And  having  asked  the  question, 
his  brow  contracted  in  a  frown  and  he  pursed  his  lips. 

The  Presiding  Justice  repeated  the  question.  Maslova 
directed  a  glance  of  alarm  at  the  Assistant  Prosecutor. 

"With  Simon?  Yes.  I  have  known  him  before,"  she 
replied. 

"I  should  like  to  know  the  nature  of  this  acquaintance. 
Did  they  see  each  other  often  ?" 

"What  sort  of  acquaintance?  Why,  he  used  to  send 
VOL.  i. — 4 


50  RESURRECTION 

for  me  in  behalf  of  the  guests ;  that's  the  kind  of  acquaint 
ance  it  was,"  replied  Maslova,  glancing  uneasily  from  the 
Assistant  Prosecutor  to  the  Presiding  Justice. 

"  I  should  like  to  know  why  Kartinkin  always  sent  for 
Mdslova  in  preference  to  the  other  women?"  said  the 
Assistant  Prosecutor,  with  a  Mephistophelean  smile  and 
half-closed  eyes. 

"I  don't  know.  How  should  I  know?"  M£slova  re 
plied,  casting  a  frightened  look  around  the  hall;  her  eyes 
rested  for  a  moment  on  Nekhliidof.  "He  sent  for  the 
one  he  wanted,  I  suppose." 

"Does  she  recognize  me?"  thought  Nekhludof,  and 
felt  the  blood  rushing  to  his  face.  But  Maslova  did  not 
distinguish  him  from  the  others;  her  eyes  again  sought 
those  of  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  with  a  look  of 
anguish. 

"The  accused  does  not  admit  then  that  she  had  any 
intimate  relations  with  Kartinkin?  Very  well.  I  have 
nothing  more  to  ask." 

And  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  at  once  removed  his  elbow 
from  his  desk  and  began  making  notes.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  he  made  no  notes  at  all ;  he  was  only  drawing  his  pen 
through  those  he  had  already  made.  He  had  observed 
how  a  prosecutor  or  a  lawyer  after  a  clever  question  would 
note  down  some  remark  to  be  embodied  in  his  closing  ar 
gument,  which  was  supposed  to  crush  his  opponent. 

The  Presiding  Justice  paused  before  resuming  his  ex 
amination  to  ask  the  Member  in  spectacles  whether  he 
was  willing  to  continue  the  questions  according  to  the 
program  which  had  been  previously  arranged. 

"And  what  happened  after  that?"  was  his  next 
question. 

"I  went  home,"  continued  Mdslova  with  more  assur 
ance,  her  gaze  now  concentrated  on  the  Presiding  Justice, 
"gave  the  money  to  the  mistress  and  went  to  bed.  I  had 
just  fallen  asleep  when  Bertha,  one  of  our  girls,  woke  me, 
saying:  'Get  up,  your  merchant  has  come  back  again.' 


RESURRECTION  51 

I  did  not  want  to  go  down  but  Madam  made  me.  He," 
she  articulated  the  word  with  evident  terror,  "he  was 
treating  the  girls  with  wine  and  wanted  to  send  for  more, 
but  he  had  no  money  in  his  pocket,  and  Madam  would  not 
trust  him.  So  he  sent  me  to  his  room  in  the  hotel,  told 
me  where  the  money  was  and  how  much  to  take,  and  I 
went." 

The  Presiding  Justice  happened  to  be  whispering  just 
then  to  the  Member  on  his  left  and  did  not  hear  what 
M&slova  said,  but  he  repeated  her  last  words  so  as  to  make 
it  appear  that  he  had  heard  it  all. 

"You  went,  and  then  what  happened?"  he  asked. 

"I  went  and  did  what  he  had  told  me  to  do.  I  went 
into  his  room,  but  I  did  not  go  alone.  I  called  Simon 
Mikhdilovitch  and  her  too,"  she  said,  pointing  to  Botch- 
k6va. 

"  She  lies !  I  never  went  near "  interrupted  Botch - 

k6va,  but  she  was  suppressed. 

"I  took  four  ten-rouble  notes,"  continued  Maslova, 
frowning;  she  did  not  look  at  Botchkova. 

"And  didn't  the  prisoner  notice  when  she  was  getting 
the  money  how  much  there  was  left?"  interrupted  the 
Prosecutor. 

Maslova  trembled  every  time  he  spoke  to  her*  Her 
instinct  told  her  that  he  was  not  friendly  towards  her. 

"I  did  not  count  them;  I  saw  there  were  one-hundred- 
rouble  notes." 

"The  prisoner  saw  the  hundred-rouble  notes?" 

"That's  all." 

"Well,  you  brought  back  the  money,"  continued  the 
Presiding  Justice,  looking  at  his  watch. 

"Yes." 

"And  then?"  he  said. 

"Then  he  took  me  back  to  the  hotel  with  him,"  said 
Maslova. 

"And  how  about  the  powder  you  gave  him  in  the 
wine  ?" 


52  RESURRECTION 

"How  did  I  give  it?  I  dropped  it  into  the  wine  and 
handed  him  the  glass." 

"What  did  you  do  it  for?" 

She  sighed  deeply. 

"He  would  not  let  me  go,"  she  said  after  a  pause.  "  I 
was  exhausted.  I  went  into  the  corridor  and  said  to  Si 
mon  Mikha"  ilovitch :  'I  wish  he'd  let  me  go.  I'm  tired.' 
And  Simon  Mikhdilovitch  said:  'We've  had  enough  of  him 
too.  We  are  thinking  of  giving  him  a  sleeping  powder, 
and  then  you  can  go.'  'Very  well,'  said  I,  thinking 
it  was  some  harmless  powder.  So  he  gave  me  the  powder. 
When  I  went  back  into  the  room,  Smelk6f  was  lying  be 
hind  the  partition  and  at  once  ordered  me  to  give  him 
some  cognac.  I  took  a  bottle  of  '  fine  champagne '  from 
the  table,  poured  out  two  glasses,  one  for  him  and  one  for 
myself,  and  dropped  the  powder  into  his.  I  never  would 
have  given  it  had  I  known  what  it  was." 

"And  how  did  you  come  by  the  ring?"  inquired  the 
Presiding  Justice. 

"He  gave  me  the  ring  himself." 

"When  did  he  give  it  to  you?" 

"After  we  went  back  to  his  room.  I  started  to  leave 
him,  and  he  struck  me  on  the  head  and  broke  my  comb. 
Then  I  was  angry  and  was  determined  to  go.  He  took 
the  ring  from  his  finger  and  made  me  a  present  of  it,  so  as 
to  induce  me  to  stay,"  she  said. 

At  that  moment  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  rose  again  and 
with  the  usual  air  of  simplicity  inquired  if  he  might  ask 
a  few  more  questions.  When  permission  was  granted  he 
bent  his  head  till  it  rested  on  one  side  of  his  embroidered 
collar. 

"  I  should  like  to  know  how  long  the  prisoner  remained 
in  merchant  Smelkdf's  room?" 

Again  Mdslova  was  alarmed  and  her  eyes  wandered 
from  the  Presiding  Justice  to  the  Assistant  Prosecutor. 

"I  don't  remember  how  long  it  was,"  she  replied 
quickly. 


RESURRECTION  53 

"  And  has  the  accused  also  forgotten  whether  she  made 
any  other  calls  in  the  hotel  after  she  left  merchant 
Smelkdf?" 

Maslova  reflected  for  an  instant.  , 

"  I  looked  into  the  empty  room  next  to  his,"  she  said. 

"What  did  you  look  in  there  for?"  asked  the  Prose 
cutor,  forgetting  himself  and  addressing  his  question 
direct  to  the  prisoner. 

"  I  wanted  to  go  in  there  to  arrange  my  dress  and  wait 
for  an  izvtistchik" 

"  And  did  Kartinkin  go  into  the  room  with  the  accused, 
or  did  he  not?" 

"He  also  dropped  in  for  a  moment." 

"Why  did  he  come  in?" 

"There  was  some  of  the  merchant's  'fine  champagne' 
left  and  we  drank  it." 

"  Ah,  you  drank  it,  did  you  ?  Well  and  good !  And 
did  the  accused  have  any  conversation  with  Simon?" 

Maslova  at  once  knit  her  brow,  blushed  and  said  rap 
idly: 

"Did  I  talk  with  him?  I  did  not.  I  have  told  you 
everything  I  know.  You  may  do  whatever  you  like  with 
me.  I  am  not  guilty,  that's  all  I  can  say." 

"I  have  nothing  more  to  ask,"  said  the  Prosecutor,  and 
shrugging  his  shoulders  he  began  to  note  down  in  the 
rough  draft  of  his  argument  the  admission  of  the  accused 
that  she  had  remained  alone  with  Simon  in  the  unoc 
cupied  room.  There  was  a  pause. 

"  You  have  nothing  more  to  say  ?" 

"I  have  told  you  everything  there  is  to  tell,"  she  said 
with  a  sigh  and  resumed  her  seat. 

Then  the  Presiding  Justice  made  a  memorandum, 
received  a  whispered  communication  from  the  Member  on 
his  left,  declared  a  recess  of  ten  minutes,  and  hurriedly 
left  the  court-room.  The  consultation  between  the  Pre 
siding  Justice  and  the  tall,  bearded,  pleasant-looking  Mem 
ber  on  the  left  was  in  regard  to  a  chronic  but  not  serious 


54  RESURRECTION 

disorder  of  the  stomach,  for  which  the  latter  was  taking 
some  drops  and  a  course  of  massage.  And  this  was  why 
a  recess  was  taken  at  his  request. 

Lawyers,  jurymen,  witnesses,  all  left  their  seats  and 
walked  about  the  court-room,  with  the  pleasant  feeling  of 
having  accomplished  a  certain  part  of  this  important 
business.  Nekhludof  went  into  the  jury-room  and  took 
a  seat  by  the  window. 


XII. 

YES,  it  was  Katiisha;  he  recalled  the  details  of  his  ac 
quaintance  with  her. 

He  was  spending  the  summer  with  his  aunts  when  he 
saw  her  for  the  first  time,  and  it  was  during  his  third 
year  at  the  University,  while  he  was  preparing  his  thesis 
on  land  tenure. 

He  usually  spent  his  summers  with  his  mother  and 
sister  on  his  mother's  large  estate  near  Moscow.  But 
that  year  his  sister  had  married  and  his  mother  had  gone  to 
drink  the  waters  at  some  foreign  Kur.  Nekhludof  had 
his  thesis  to  prepare,  and  so  he  decided  to  spend  the 
summer  with  his  aunts.  Their  estate  was  a  peaceful 
retreat  where  there  would  be  nothing  to  disturb  him. 
The  aunts  were  very  proud  of  their  nephew  and  heir,  and 
he  returned  their  affection  and  liked  their  simple  and 
old-fashioned  way  of  living. 

During  the  summer  that  he  spent  with  his  aunts 
Nekhludof  was  passing  through  that  period  of  exaltation 
when  a  youth  first  begins  to  realize  for  himself,  without 
any  suggestions  from  the  outside,  all  the  beauty  and  sig 
nificance  of  life,  and  the  possibility  of  infinite  perfection, 
not  only  for  himself,  but  for  the  whole  world.  This  idea 
of  perfection  utterly  captivates  him,  and  he  feels  abso 
lutely  sure  that  some  day  his  highest  flights  of  imagination 
will  become  actual  facts.  This  year  he  had  been  reading 


RESURRECTION  55 

Spencer's  "Social  Statics, "  and  the  theories  of  that  writer 
concerning  land  tenure  had  made  a  profound  impression 
on  him,  all  the  more  profound  because  he  was  himself  the 
son  of  a  rich  landed  proprietor.  His  father  was  not  a 
rich  man,  but  his  mother  had  inherited  about  10,000 
dessiatins  of  land.  For  the  first  time  he  realized  all  the 
cruelty  and  injustice  of  private  ownership  of  land,  and 
being  one  of  those  for  whom  a  sacrifice,  in  the  name  of 
conscience,  constitutes  the  highest  spiritual  joy,  he  decided 
to  relinquish  his  rights  to  the  land,  and  to  give  up  to  the 
peasants  the  property  he  had  inherited  from  his  father. 
This  was  in  fact  the  subject  of  his  thesis. 

His  life,  while  he  stayed  with  his  aunts,  was  regular 
enough.  He  rose  very  early  in  the  morning,  sometimes 
as  early  as  three  o'clock,  and  took  a  swim  before  sunrise, 
in  the  river  that  ran  at  the  foot  of  the  hill;  often  the  fog 
had  not  yet  lifted,  and  he  would  return  while  the  dew 
still  sparkled  on  the  grass  and  flowers.  Sometimes 
during  the  forenoon,  after  taking  his  coffee,  he  would  work 
on  his  thesis  or  look  up  references,  but  more  frequently 
he  chose  to  roam  the  woods  and  fields  rather  than  read 
or  write. 

Before  dinner  he  always  took  a  nap  in  the  garden.  And 
during  that  meal  his  exuberant  spirits  were  a  constant 
source  of  amusement  and  entertainment  for  his  aunts. 
Then  he  rode  on  horseback  or  rowed  his  boat,  and  in  the 
evenings  sat  with  his  aunts  and  either  read,  or  played 
solitaire.  He  was  often  kept  awake  at  night,  and  on  moon 
light  nights  particularly  he  could  not  sleep;  he  felt  in 
tensely  the  all-pervading  joy  of  life,  and  instead  of  sleep 
ing  he  would  spend  the  night  roaming  around  the  garden 
in  company  with  his  dreams  and  thoughts. 

Thus  happily  and  peacefully  he  spent  the  first  month 
of  his  visit,  never  once  noticing  his  aunts'  semi-maid  and 
semi-ward,  the  black-eyed,  sprightly  Katusha.  Brought 
up  under  his  mother's  wing,  Nekhliidof,  at  nineteen, 
was  an  innocent  lad.  He  dreamed  of  woman  only  in  her 


56  RESURRECTION 

character  of  wife,  and  a  woman  who  was  not  suitable  to 
become  his  wife  was  simply  a  person,  so  far  as  he  was 
concerned. 

One  day,  however,  —  it  was  Ascension  Day, — a  neigh 
bor  of  theirs,  accompanied  by  her  two  daughters  and 
son,  came  to  spend  a  day  with  them.  The  son  brought 
a  friend  of  his,  a  young  artist,  sprung  from  the  peasant 
class,  who  happened  at  the  time  to  be  paying  him  a  visit. 
After  the  evening  tea  the  party  went  to  the  newly  mown 
meadow  in  front  of  the  house  to  play  a  game  of  gorelki. 
They  took  Katusha  with  them,  and  presently  Katusha 
and  Nekhludof  were  paired  off  together.  Nekhludof  was 
always  pleased  to  see  Katusha,  but  he  had  never  given 
her  more  than  a  passing  thought. 

"It  will  be  impossible  to  catch  those  two  unless  they 
stumble,"  said  the  jolly  artist,  who  was  a  swift  runner 
himself,  and  whose  part  it  was  to  prevent  the  parr  from 
joining  hands. 

"  Oh,  you  will  be  sure  to  catch  them.     One,  two,  three." 

They  clapped  their  hands  three  times.  Katusha  could 
hardly  help  laughing  as  she  changed  places  with  Nekh 
ludof,  and  seizing  his  large  hand  with  her  own  little  rough 
one,  gave  it  the  signal  squeeze,  then  started  towards  the 
left,  rustling  her  starched  skirts  as  she  ran. 

Nekhludof  was  a  fast  runner  too,  and  he  was  moreover 
loath  to  be  beaten  by  the  artist,  so  he  ran  as  fast  as  he 
could.  When  he  looked  back  he  saw  the  painter  chasing 
Katusha,  but  her  nimble  young  limbs  stood  her  in  good 
stead,  and  she  was  running  towards  the  left.  Directly  in 
front  of  them  were  some  lilac  bushes,  forming  a  sort  of 
goal,  beyond  which  they  were  not  to  run.  Katusha 
made  a  sign  to  Nekhludof  that  this  was  the  place  where 
they  were  to  join  hands.  He  understood  her  and  ran 
behind  the  bushes.  But  he  was  not  aware  of  a  certain 
narrow  ditch  overgrown  with  nettles,  into  which  he  stum 
bled  and  fell,  stinging  his  hands  with  the  nettles;  but  he 
was  up  again  with  a  laugh,  and  moistening  his  hands 


RESURRECTION  57 

with  the  dew  that  lay  on  the  grass,  he  put  himself  to  rights 
and  gained  an  open  space. 

Katusha,  her  eyes  shining,  her  whole  face  beaming 
with  smiles,  was  running  to  meet  him.  They  came 
together  and  joined  hands. 

"You  must  have  stung  yourself,"  said  Katusha,  pant 
ing  and  smiling,  and  looking  at  him  while  with  her  free 
hands  she  adjusted  her  braids. 

"I  didn't  know  the  ditch  was  there,"  he  said,  also 
smiling  and  still  holding  her  hand  clasped  in  his. 

She  drew  nearer,  and  without  knowing  how  it  happened, 
he  put  his  face  close  to  hers.  She  did  not  draw  back;  he 
pressed  her  hand  and  kissed  her  on  the  mouth. 

"There,  you've  done  it!"  she  cried,  and  quickly  with 
drawing  her  hand  she  ran  away  from  him. 

Running  past  a  lilac  bush  she  broke  off  two  branches 
of  white  lilacs,  which  were  already  beginning  to  fade,  and 
fanned  herself  with  them;  one  backward  glance  she 
threw  at  him,  and  then,  briskly  swinging  her  arms,  she 
joined  the  other  players. 

And  from  that  moment  their  mutual  relations  were 
changed.  It  was  the  beginning  of  that  state  of  affairs 
which  exists  between  a  youth  and  a  maiden  who  are  at 
tracted  towards  each  other.  Whenever  Katusha  came 
into  the  room,  or  when  Nekhludof  caught  a  glimpse  of 
her  white  apron  in  the  distance,  it  was  like  a  ray  of  sun 
shine  for  him;  everything  took  on  a  different  air,  grew 
brighter  and  more  cheerful.  In  short,  life  became  a  joy. 

Katusha,  too,  was  under  the  same  spell.  And  this  in 
fluence  was  dominant  whether  they  were  together  or  away 
from  one  another.  The  mere  knowledge  that  there  were 
a  Nekhludof  and  a  Katusha  seemed  to  be  a  great  satisfac 
tion  to  them.  If  his  mother  wrote  him  an  unpleasant 
letter,  or  if  he  stumbled  upon  difficulties  in  his  thesis,  or  if 
he  felt  sad,  he  had  but  to  remember  that  there  was 
Katusha,  and  all  troubles  vanished  when  she  came  in 
sight. 


58  RESURRECTION 

Katusha  was  very  busy  about  the  house,  but  she  was 
also  very  active,  and  had  time  to  read  in  her  leisure  hours. 
Nekhliidof  gave  her  Tourgue*nef  and  Dostdevsky.  He 
had  just  been  reading  those  books  himself. 

Tourgue'nefs  "Lull  before  the  Storm"  was  her  favor 
ite.  They  exchanged  a  few  words  whenever  they  met  in 
the  corridor,  on  the  veranda,  or  in  the  yard,  and  some 
times  in  the  room  of  his  aunts'  old  attendant,  Matre*na 
Pavlovna,  which  Katusha  shared  and  where  Nekhludof 
sometimes  came  to  drink  a  cup  of  tea. 

And  those  conversations  in  the  presence  of  Matrena 
Pavlovna  were  really  more  agreeable.  It  was  not  easy  to 
talk  when  they  were  alone.  Their  eyes  expressed  some 
thing  of  more  consequence  than  the  lips  could  utter;  they 
remained  silent,  felt  embarrassed,  and  quickly  separated. 

Such  were  their  relations  during  this  visit.  The  aunts 
noticed  it,  took  alarm,  and  even  wrote  about  it  to  his 
mother,  who  was  abroad. 

Marya  Ivanovna,  one  of  the  aunts,  feared  lest  Dmitri 
should  enter  into  illicit  relations  with  Katusha.  But 
there  was  no  danger  of  that.  Though  not  realizing  it  him 
self,  Nekhludof  loved  Katusha  as  pure-minded  men  do, 
and  this  love  was  the  shield  between  them.  The  thought 
of  any  more  intimate  relations  filled  him  with  horror. 

So  the  fears  of  his  imaginative  mother,  Princess  Sdphya 
Ivanovna,  lest  Dmitri,  having  fallen  in  love,  should  with 
his  resolute  character  be  determined  to  marry  the  girl, 
let  her  origin  be  what  it  might,  were  unreasonable.  Had 
he  then  clearly  realized  his  affection  for  Katusha,  or  even 
if  they  had  tried  to  argue  with  and  to  dissuade  him  from 
making  her  his  wife,  this  might  very  easily  have  happened. 
His  straightforward  nature  would  incline  him  to  decide 
that  there  could  be  no  reasons  to  prevent  him  from  marry 
ing  this  girl,  no  matter  who  she  was,  if  he  loved  her.  But 
the  aunts  did  not  express  their  fears  to  him,  and  so  he 
departed  without  confessing  his  love  for  Katrfsha.  He 
was  sure  that  his  feeling  for  her  was  one  of  those  manifesta- 


RESURRECTION  59 

tions  of  joy  that  had  enriched  his  life  at  that  time,  a  feel 
ing  shared  by  this  charming,  sunny-tempered  girl. 

When  the  time  came  for  him  to  go  away,  when  he  saw 
Katiisha  standing  with  his  aunts  on  the  porch,  her  black 
eyes  filled  with  tears,  he  felt  that  he  was  leaving  behind 
him  a  precious  experience  which  could  never  be  repeated. 
And  he  grew  very  sad. 

"Good-by,  Katusha,  thank  you  for  everything,"  he 
said,  looking  over  S6phya  Ivanovna's  cap  as  he  seated 
himself  in  the  droshky. 

"Good-by,  Dmitri  Ivanovitch,"  she  replied,  in  her 
sweet,  caressing  voice,  keeping  back  her  tears,  and  then 
she  ran  into  the  entry  where  she  could  give  free  vent  to 
her  grief. 

XIII. 

THREE  years  had  passed  since  Nekhludof  had  seen 
Katusha.  He  had  just  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  an 
officer  and  was  on  his  way  to  the  army  when  he  stopped 
to  pay  his  aunts  another  visit.  But  it  was  not  the  same 
man  who  had  spent  his  summer  there  three  years  ago. 

Then  he  was  an  honorable,  ingenuous  youth  with  a 
heart  open  to  every  good  suggestion;  now  he  was  a  de 
generate,  accomplished  egotist,  who  cared  for  nothing 
but  his  own  pleasure.  Then  God's  world  seemed  to 
him  a  mystery  which  he  was  striving  to  penetrate  with 
delight  and  enthusiasm;  now  his  life  was  defined  by  the 
simplest  of  rules,  and  regulated  by  those  conditions  in 
which  one  happens  to  be  born.  Then  he  needed  com 
munion  with  nature  and  with  men  who  had  lived,  thought, 
and  felt  before  his  time,  with  poets  and  philosophers. 
All  that  interested  him  now  were  human  institutions  and 
good  comradeship.  Then  woman  seemed  a  mysterious 
and  charming  being,  charming  because  of  that  very 
mystery;  now  his  idea  of  a  woman,  of  any  woman,  except 
the  women  of  his  own  kin  or  the  wives  of  his  friends, 


60  RESURRECTION 

was  clearly  enough  defined;  woman  was  one  of  the  most 
attractive  diversions  for  an  idle  hour.  Then  he  did  not 
care  for  money,  and  he  could  have  lived  on  a  third  of  the 
allowance  his  mother  gave  him,  he  could  forego  his 
paternal  inheritance  in  favor  of  the  peasants;  now  the 
monthly  allowance  of  fifteen  hundred  roubles  which 
his  mother  gave  him  was  insufficient,  and  he  had  already 
had  some  unpleasant  interviews  with  her  on  the  subject 
of  money  matters.  Then  he  valued  his  spiritual  Ego 
above  all  else,  as  his  true  self.  Now  his  active  and 
vigorous  animal  nature  had  the  precedence. 

And  all  this  radical  change  came  about  simply  because 
he  had  ceased  to  believe  in  himself  and  placed  all  his  con 
fidence  in  others.  He  had  ceased  to  believe  in  himself, 
and  begun  to  believe  in  other  people  because  it  was  too 
difficult  to  go  on  living,  trusting  only  in  himself.  If  a 
man  has  faith  in  himself,  he  has  to  decide  so  many  ques 
tions  against  his  lower  nature,  which  seeks  easy  joys,  but 
when  he  puts  his  trust  in  others,  there  is  nothing  to  decide; 
everything  has  already  been  decided  against  the  spiritual 
nature,  and  in  favor  of  the  animal  nature.  Moreover, 
when  he  trusted  in  his  own  judgment  he  was  always 
blamed,  whereas  now,  trusting  others,  he  received  nothing 
but  the  approval  of  those  about  him. 

When  Nekhludof  used  to  read,  think,  or  speak  of  God, 
of  truth,  of  wealth,  and  of  poverty,  everybody  around  him 
considered  it  ridiculous  and  out  of  place;  his  mother  and 
his  aunts,  amiably  satirical,  called  him  "noire  cher  philo- 
sophe";but  when  he  read  novels,  told  questionable  stories, 
visited  the  French  theater  and  comic  plays,  and  related 
their  plots  in  a  pleasing  manner,  everybody  praised  and 
encouraged  him.  When  he  considered  it  his  duty  to 
economize,  to  wear  an  old  coat  and  abstain  from  wine, 
everybody  thought  it  was  only  an  idiosyncrasy,  and  a  sort 
of  ostentatious  originality;  but  when  he  spent  money  for 
hunting  or  to  furnish  a  luxurious  study,  every  one  praised 
his  taste  and  presented  him  with  costly  trifles.  When  he 


RESURRECTION  61 

was  pure  and  meant  to  preserve  his  purity  until  his 
wedding  day,  his  relatives  were  anxious  about  his  health, 
and  even  his  mother  was  rather  pleased  to  hear  that  he 
had  become  a  real  man  and  had  supplanted  one  of  his 
comrades  in  the  heart  of  some  French  woman.  In  regard 
to  the  episode  with  Katusha,  the  Dowager  Princess  could 
never  remember  without  horror  that  her  son  once  enter 
tained  the  idea  of  marrying  that  girl. 

It  was  just  the  same  when  Nekhliidof,  having  attained 
his  majority,  relinquished  the  small  estate  he  had  inherited 
from  his  father  in  favor  of  the  peasants,  because  he 
considered  the  ownership  of  land  unjust;  this  action 
horrified  his  mother  and  his  relatives,  and  was  ever 
after  the  object  of  reiterated  reproaches  and  gibes  in 
the  family. 

He  was  continually  told  how  the  peasants,  having  re 
ceived  the  land,  not  only  were  no  better  off  themselves,  but 
that  they  had  become  impoverished;  they  established 
three  pot-houses  and  gave  up  all  idea  of  working.  But 
when  Nekhliidof  entered  the  Guards  and  in  company  with 
distinguished  friends  had  squandered  and  gambled  away 
so  much  money  that  his  mother  was  obliged  to  infringe  on 
her  capital  to  pay  his  debts,  she  was  hardly  grieved  at  all; 
that  was  a  matter  of  course;  quite  the  natural  and  whole 
some  way  of  inoculating  the  virus  in  youth  and  in  good 
company.  Nekhliidof  had  at  first  made  a  fight  for  his 
principles;  it  was  a  hard  struggle,  because  everything 
that  seemed  virtuous  to  him  seemed  vicious  to  other 
people;  and  vice  versa,  all  that  he  had  regarded  as  evil 
was  applauded  by  his  world.  The  struggle  ended  in  his 
surrender;  he  gave  up  his  own  ideals  and  adopted  those  of 
other  people.  First  this  feeling  of  distrust  in  himself 
made  him  uncomfortable;  but  this  sensation  soon  wore  off, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  Nekhliidof,  who  began  about 
that  time  to  smoke  and  drink  wine,  had  not  only  forgotten 
it,  but  was  conscious  of  a  sense  of  relief. 

His  intensely  passionate  temperament  inclined  him 


62  RESURRECTION 

towards  this  new  life,  which  commanded  the  world's  ap 
proval.  The  voice  that  called  for  other  things  was  com 
pletely  silenced.  This  transition,  which  had  its  origin 
after  he  went  to  live  in  Petersburg,  received  its  finishing 
touch  in  the  army. 

Military  service  generally  corrupts  a  man.  It  puts  him 
in  a  position  of  absolute  idleness,  that  is  to  say,  it  pro 
vides  him  with  neither  rational  nor  profitable  occupation^ 
It  emancipates  him  from  the  common  obligations  of 
humanity — gives  him  in  return  only  the  adventitious 
honor  of  the  regiment,  the  uniform,  and  the  flag;  auto 
cratic  power  on  the  one  hand,  slavish  submission  on  the 
other. 

But  when  to  that  corruption  common  to  all  military 
service,  with  the  glories  of  its  uniform  and  its  flag,  its 
warrant  for  rapine  and  murder, — when  to  that  is  added 
the  demoralization  produced  by  wealth  and  the  intimacy 
with  the  royal  family  which  is  one  of  the  privileges  ac 
cruing  to  the  regiments  of  the  Guards  in  which  only  the 
wealthy  and  aristocratic  officers  are  permitted  to  serve, 
then  the  very  insanity  of  egotism  takes  possession  of  the 
man  who  has  fallen  a  victim  to  this  poisonous  influence. 
And  Nekhludof  had  been  under  the  influence  of  this  spell 
ever  since  he  entered  the  military  service  and  began  to 
share  the  life  of  his  comrades. 

The  sole  occupation  of  life  was  to  wear  a  fine  uniform, 
manufactured  and  taken  care  of  by  other  men,  with 
helmet  and  weapons  also  forged  and  kept  bright  by  the 
labor  of  others,  to  ride  a  spirited  horse,  trained  and  fed 
by  another;  to  play  a  part  in  the  parades  and  reviews  with 
men  of  one's  own  rank,  galloping  to  and  fro,  waving 
swords  and  firing  guns  and  teaching  other  men  to  fire 
them.  Men  of  the  highest  rank,  both  old  and  young, 
possessed  no  other  occupation  but  this.  The  Czar  and 
his  courtiers  not  only  approved  of  this  mode  of  life,  but 
extolled  and  rewarded  the  men  who  pursued  it.  To 
frequent  a  military  clubhouse  or  a  particularly  expensive 


RESURRECTION  63 

restaurant  for  the  purpose  of  eating  and  drinking  —  chiefly 
drinking — spending  money  derived  from  goodness 
knows  where,  was  regarded  as  an  excellent  and  praise 
worthy  act.  Women,  dancing,  and  the  play-house,  re 
lieved  by  the  excitement  of  saber-thrusts  and  galloping 
steeds,  to  be  followed  by  more  squandering  of  money 
over  women,  wine,  drinking,  and  cards,  —  such  was  the 
life;  and  all  the  more  demoralizing,  because  where  a 
civilian  would  be  secretly  ashamed  of  such  goings-on,  a 
soldier  takes  it  all  for  granted,  and  is  rather  inclined  to 
boast  of  it,  especially  in  time  of  war.  It  so  chanced  that 
Nekhliidof  entered  the  army  soon  after  the  war  with 
Turkey  was  declared. 

"We  stand  ready  to  shed  our  blood  in  war,  so  we  are 
justified  in  leading  a  jovial  life;  indeed,  it  is  the  only  life 
that  is  possible  for  us,  and  therefore  we  lead  it."  It  was 
after  some  such  vague  fashion  that  Nekhludof  would 
have  expressed  his  feelings  at  that  period  of  his  life.  He 
also  tasted  the  joy  of  emancipation  from  certain  moral 
obligations  which  he  had  formerly  established.  In  short, 
the  unbroken  spell  of  egotistical  insanity  was  upon  him. 

Such  was  his  state  of  mind  when  after  an  absence  of 
three  years  he  paid  a  visit  to  his  aunts. 


XIV. 

NEKHLfJDOF  decided  to  pay  this  visit  partly  because  it 
was  convenient — his  aunts'  estate  was  situated  on  the 
route  by  which  his  regiment  had  just  gone  on  in  advance 
of  him — partly  because  they  had  begged  him  to  come, 
but  principally  because  he  wanted  to  see  Katusha.  It 
is  possible  that  his  passion,  no  longer  bridled  by  princi 
ple,  may  have  already  suggested  to  him  the  evil  which  he 
afterwards  wrought  against  Katusha,  but  he  did  not  ac 
knowledge  this  to  himself;  he  would  have  said  that  all  he 
wanted  was  simply  to  revisit  the  places  where  he  had  been 


64  RESURRECTION 

so  happy,  to  see  once  more  his  somewhat  peculiar  but 
kind-hearted  aunts,  who  always  surrounded  him  with 
an  atmosphere  of  unobtrusive  love  and  adulation,  as 
well  as  to  meet  that  dear  Katusha  whom  he  remembered 
so  pleasantly. 

He  arrived  there  towards  the  end  of  March,  on  Good 
Friday,  over  roads  almost  impassable,  in  the  midst  of  a 
drenching  rain-storm,  soaked  and  cold,  but  with  the  blood 
tingling  in  his  veins  and  in  the  high  spirits  which  he 
usually  enjoyed  in  those  days.  "I  wonder  whether  she 
is  still  here,"  he  thought  as  he  entered  the  familiar  court 
yard,  now  filled  with  snow-drifts,  and  surrounded  by 
its  red  brick  wall.  He  had  hoped  that  when  the  bell  of 
his  conveyance  was  heard,  he  might  see  her  coming  to 
greet  him  at  the  side  entrance.  But  the  only  persons  he 
met  were  two  bare-footed  women,  who  seemed  to  have 
been  scrubbing  floors,  for  their  skirts  were  tucked  up  and 
each  one  carried  a  pail. 

Neither  did  he  find  Katusha  at  the  front  entrance. 
Tihon,  the  man-servant,  also  seemed  to  be  busy,  cleaning; 
he  wore  an  apron. 

His  Aunt  S6phya,  attired  in  a  silk  gown  and  cap,  came 
out  to  greet  him.  "How  nice  of  you  to  come,"  she  ex 
claimed,  embracing  him.  "Sister  is  somewhat  tired 
from  standing  so  long  in  church.  We  received  the  Sac 
rament  to-day." 

"My  congratulations  to  Aunt  Sophy,"  said  Nekhliidof, 
kissing  her  hand.  "Ah,  forgive  me,  I  have  wet  your 
gown." 

"Oh,  you  must  go  directly  to  your  room.  You  are 
really  very  wet!  Why,  you  have  a  mustache  already!  — 
Katusha,  Katusha !  Make  haste  and  bring  him  a  cup  of 
coffee." 

"Yes,  ma'am,  I'm  coming,"  he  heard  the  sound  of  the 
familiar  voice  from  the  corridor,  and  his  heart  beat  with 
joy.  "She  is  here."  It  was  as  though  the  sun  had 
emerged  from  a  cloud.  Tihon  led  the  way,  and  Nekhlu- 


RESURRECTION  65 

dof  with  a  springing  step  gaily  followed  him  to  the  room 
he  used  to  occupy,  and  proceeded  to  change  his  clothes. 

He  wanted  to  ask  Tihon  about  Katusha,  how  she  was 
getting  on,  and  whether  she  was  engaged  to  be  married. 
But  Tihon  was  so  distant  and  respectful  in  his  manner, 
so  very  punctilious  about  pouring  the  water  over  his  hands 
when  he  washed  them,  that  Nekhliidof  could  not  make 
up  his  mind  to  ask  him  about  Katusha;  so  he  confined 
himself  to  questions  about  his  grandchildren,  his  uncle's 
old  horse,  and  the  dog  Polkan.  They  were  all  alive  and 
well,  except  Polkan,  who  had  died  of  rabies  last  year. 

He  had  just  taken  off  his  wet  clothes  and  begun  to 
dress,  when  he  heard  a  light  footstep.  Then  came  a 
knock  at  the  door.  Nekhliidof  recognized  both  the  foot 
step  and  the  knock.  She  was  the  only  person  in  the 
world  who  walked  like  that,  and  her  knock  was  equally 
unmistakable. 

He  threw  on  his  wet  cloak  and  went  to  the  door. 

"Come  in." 

It  was  Katusha,  the  same  as  ever,  only  more  enchant 
ing.  Her  innocent-looking  black  eyes  had  the  same 
smiling  expression  and  fascinating  little  squint.  She 
wore  a  dainty  white  apron  just  like  the  one  she  used  to 
wear.  The  aunts  had  bidden  her  bring  him  a  fresh 
piece  of  scented  soap  and  a  couple  of  towels:  a  long 
Russian  one  and  a  Turkish  towel.  The  new  cake  of 
soap  with  its  raised  letters,  the  towels  and  the  bearer, 
were  all  as  fresh  as  a  rose  and  equally  attractive.  In 
her  delight  at  seeing  him,  she  gathered  her  charmingly 
bright-red  lips  into  the  same  sweet  little  pucker  he  re 
membered  of  old. 

"A  welcome  to  you,  Dmitri  Ivanovitch."  She  had 
some  difficulty  in  articulating  the  words  and  blushed  as 
she  spoke. 

"How  do  you  do,  how  art  thou?"  He  was  not  sure 
whether  he  ought  to  call  her  "you"  or  "thou"  and  dis 
covered  that  he  also  was  blushing.  "  Are  you  all  right  ?', 
VOL.  i.— 5 


66  RESURRECTION 

"Yes,  thank  God.  Your  aunt  made  me  bring  your 
favorite  rose  soap,"  she  continued  as  she  placed  the  soap 
on  the  table  and  spread  the  towels  over  the  arms  of  the 
easy-chair. 

"There  is  soap  here,"  said  Tihon,  speaking  up  in  de 
fense  of  the  dignity  of  the  guest  and  pointing  with  pride 
at  a  large  dressing-case,  with  its  silver-covered  boxes, 
numerous  flasks,  brushes,  powders,  pomades,  perfumery, 
and  a  variety  of  other  toilet  articles. 

"  Give  my  thanks  to  my  aunt.  How  glad  I  am  to  be 
here!"  said  Nekhliidof,  feeling  all  of  a  sudden  as  light- 
hearted  as  he  used  to  feel  in  the  old  times. 

Her  only  answer  was  a  smile  as  she  left  the  room. 

The  aunts,  who  had  always  been  devoted  to  Nekhludof, 
received  him  now  with  greater  enthusiasm  than  ever. 
Dmitri  was  going  to  the  war,  where  he  might  be  wounded 
or  even  killed.  This  possibility  was  very  touching  to 
his  aunts. 

Nekhliidof  had  planned  his  journey  with  the  intention 
of  staying  there  only  one  day,  but  when  he  saw  Katiisha, 
he  readily  consented  to  remain  over  Easter  Sunday  and 
telegraphed  to  his  friend  and  comrade  Shoenbock,  whom 
he  had  promised  to  meet  in  Odessa,  to  stop  over  at  his 
aunts'  house. 

No  sooner  had  Nekhludof  seen  Katiisha  again,  than  his 
feeling  for  her  revived  in  all  its  early  fervor.  As  it  had 
been  in  the  past,  so  it  was  now;  he  could  never  see  Ka- 
tilsha's  white  apron  without  emotion.  The  very  echo 
of  her  footfall,  the  music  of  her  joyous  laughter,  filled  him 
with  delight;  no  longer  could  he  gaze  calmly  into  her 
pretty  eyes,  that  looked  like  two  black  currants  wet  with 
the  dew,  nor  could  he  see  without  confusion  how  she 
blushed  wherever  she  encountered  him.  He  knew  he 
was  in  love,  but  it  was  not  the  kind  he  used  to  feel  when 
love  was  a  mystery  to  him  and  when  he  dared  not  confess 
it  even  to  himself.  That  was  the  time  when  he  believed 
in  the  one  love  of  a  lifetime.  Now  he  was  in  love,  and  he 


RESURRECTION  67 

knew  what  it  meant  and  rejoiced  in  his  knowledge;  and 
although  he  refused  to  admit  it  even  to  himself,  he  clearly 
recognized  the  nature  of  this  emotion  and  its  probable 
results. 

Like  every  other  human  being,  Nekhludof  possessed 
two  natures:  the  one  spiritual,  caring  only  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  mankind;  the  other  an  animal  nature,  absorbed 
in  self-gratification  and  seeking  pleasure  at  the  expense 
of  the  rest  of  the  world.  At  this  stage  of  the  egotistical 
mania,  developed  by  his  residence  in  Petersburg  and  inter 
course  with  army  society,  the  animal  nature  seemed  to 
have  won  the  day*  But  at  the  sight  of  Katiisha  and  the 
revival  of  his  early  love  for  her,  his  spiritual  nature  began 
to  assert  its  rights,  and  unconsciously  to  himself  during 
the  two  days  before  Easter,  it  struggled  valiantly  to  hold 
its  own.  His  conscience  told  him  that  he  ought  to  go; 
that  there  was  no  reason  for  prolonging  his  visit  to  his 
aunts;  he  knew  that  no  good  could  possibly  come  of  it, 
and  yet  he  was  in  such  a  happy  frame  of  mind,  that  he  shut 
his  eyes  to  the  consequences  and  stayed. 

The  priest  and  his  deacon  and  sub-deacon  had  driven 
over  in  a  sleigh  on  Easter  eve,  to  sing  the  vespers.  The 
aunts'  estate  was  about  three  versts  from  the  church. 
They  said  the  road  was  in  a  very  bad  state  and  between 
the  slush  and  the  bare  ground  they  had  had  some  dif 
ficulty  in  making  the  journey. 

Nekhludof  with  his  aunts  and  the  servants  stayed 
through  the  service.  He  kept  his  eyes  fixed  on  Katiisha, 
who  stood  near  the  door  and  brought  in  the  censers. 
After  exchanging  the  Easter  greeting  with  his  aunts  and 
the  priest  he  was  about  to  retire,  when  in  the  corridor, 
outside,  he  heard  Matrena  Pa"vlovna,  his  aunts'  elderly 
maid  servant,  getting  ready  to  go  with  Katusha  to  the 
village  church  to  get  the  Easter  cakes  and  cream  cheeses 
blessed.  "I  will  go,  too,"  thought  he. 

The  road  to  the  church  was  almost  impassable,  either 
for  carriages  or  sleighs;  so  Nekhludof,  who  felt  perfectly 


68  RESURRECTION 

at  home  at  his  aunts',  gave  orders  to  saddle  the  old  stal 
lion  known  as  "brother's  horse,"  and  instead  of  going 
to  bed  he  put  on  his  brilliant  uniform  and  close-fitting 
riding  trousers,  threw  a  cloak  over  his  shoulders,  and 
bestriding  this  over-fed  and  venerable  animal,  whose 
neighing  never  ceased,  started  for  the  church  through 
darkness,  slush,  and  snow. 

XV. 

THIS  midnight  Mass  was  always  one  of  the  happiest  and 
most  vivid  recollections  of  Nekhludof's  life. 

When  from  the  outer  darkness,  relieved  by  occasional 
patches  of  white  snow,  he  rode  into  the  churchyard,  his 
horse  splashing  and  pricking  his  ears  at  the  sight  of  the 
miniature  lamps  that  surrounded  the  church,  the  service 
had  already  begun. 

The  peasants,  recognizing  Marya  Pavlovna's  nephew, 
showed  him  a  dry  spot  where  he  could  dismount,  and 
tethering  his  horse  escorted  him  into  the  church,  which 
was  filled  with  worshipers. 

On  the  right-hand  side  of  the  church  stood  the  male 
peasants,  the  old  men  in  homespun  kaftans,  bast  shoes, 
and  clean  white  leg- wrappers ;  the  younger  ones  in  new 
cloth  kaftans,  with  bright-colored  belts  around  their  waists, 
and  top-boots.  On  the  left  were  the  peasant  women, 
with  their  red  silk  kerchiefs  on  their  heads.  They  wore  a 
kind  of  sleeveless  jacket  made  of  cotton  velvet,  bright-red 
shirt  sleeves,  and  shirts  of  many  colors,  — blue,  green,  and 
red;  their  feet  were  shod  with  hob-nailed  shoes.  Some  of 
•the  modest  old  women,  who  stood  behind  all  the  others, 
with  white  kerchiefs  and  gray  kaftans,  wore  old-fashioned 
shoes,  and  some  had  on  new  bast  shoes.  The  children 
were  gathered  together  in  the  middle  of  the  church;  each 
child  had  its  hair  oiled  and  wore  its  Sunday  clothes.  The 
men  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  followed  by  a  genuflection, 
and  as  they  rose,  tossed  back  their  long  hair;  the  women, 


RESURRECTION  69 

particularly  the  old  ones,  fastening  their  dull  and  faded 
eyes  on  one  or  other  of  the  ikons  with  its  circle  of  burning 
tapers,  made  elaborate  signs  of  the  cross,  firmly  pressing 
their  folded  fingers  first  to  the  kerchief  that  bound  their 
heads,  then  to  each  shoulder,  and  finally  to  the  waist, 
moving  their  lips  all  the  while  and  bending  to  the  floor  in 
genuflections.  The  children  in  imitation  of  their  elders 
prayed  zealously  whenever  any  one  happened  to  be 
looking  at  them.  The  tall  candles,  decorated  with  golden 
spirals  and  surrounded  by  tapers,  reflected  their  lights  on 
the  glittering  gilded  cases  of  the  ikons.  The  swinging 
lamp  in  the  center  was  filled  with  tapers;  from  the  choir 
came  the  cheerful  singing  of  volunteer  choristers,  men  and 
boys,  a  combination  of  heavy  bass  and  high  soprano. 

Nekhludof  passed  to  the  front.  A  group  of  the  aristoc 
racy  stood  in  the  center  of  the  church :  one  landed  proprie 
tor  with  his  wife  and  son,  —  the  boy  wearing  a  sailor 
jacket,  —  the  Stanovoy,  the  telegraph  operator,  a  merchant 
in  top  boots,  the  village  Elder  with  a  medal  on  his  breast, 
and  to  the  right  of  the  ambo,  directly  behind  the  wife  of 
the  landed  proprietor,  Matrena  Pavlovna  in  a  lavender- 
colored  gown  and  a  white-bordered  shawl,  and  Katusha 
in  a  white  frock  with  a  tucked  bodice,  a  blue  sash,  and  a 
red  bow  on  her  black  hair. 

It  was  all  so  solemn,  and  yet  so  festive,  cheerful,  and 
bright;  the  priest  in  his  silver  cloth  vestments  embroidered 
with  gold  crosses,  the  deacon  and  sub-deacons  in  their  gold 
and  silver  dalmaticas,  the  amateur  choristers  with  oiled 
hair  and  holiday  raiment,  the  lively  dancing  melodies  of 
the  hymns,  and  the  priests  with  their  triple,  flower-be 
decked  candles,  constantly  blessing  the  congregation  and 
repeating  the  Easter  salutation:  Christ  is  risen!  Christ  is 
risen!  It  was  all  beautiful,  but  the  fairest  of  all  was 
Katusha  in  her  white  dress  and  blue  sash,  with  the  red 
bow  on  her  black  hair  and  her  eyes  radiant  with  delight. 

Nekhliidof  knew  that  she  was  conscious  of  him,  al 
though  she  never  turned  her  head.  He  made  this  discov- 


70  RESURRECTION 

ery  when  he  passed  close  to  her  on  his  way  to  the  altar. 
He  couldn't  help  speaking,  though  he  could  think  of 
nothing  more  appropriate  to  say  to  her  than,  "  Aunt  said 
that  she  should  break  her  fast  after  the  late  Mass." 

Her  charming  face  grew  pink  as  it  always  did,  at  the 
sight  of  him,  and  the  look  of  ecstasy  deepened  in  her 
dark  eyes.  "  Yes,  I  knew  it,"  she  answered  with  a  smile. 

At  that  moment  the  sub-deacon  with  a  brass  coffee-pot l 
in  his  hands  was  making  his  way  through  the  crowd,  and 
urged  by  a  natural  impulse  of  respect  for  Nekhludof  and 
trying  to  avoid  a  collision,  without  noticing  Katiisha  at  all, 
he  moved  so  close  to  her  that  his  vestments  brushed  against 
her  frock.  Nekhludof  wondered  how  that  sub-deacon 
could  have  so  little  perception;  he  ought  to  have  realized 
that  everything  this  world  contained  was  created  ex 
pressly  for  Katusha;  that  a  man  might  overlook  every 
thing  in  existence,  except  Katusha,  for  she  was  the  center 
of  all.  For  her  the  gold  of  the  ikons  glistened,  for  her  the 
tapers  in  the  sanctuary  lamp  and  in  the  candlesticks  were 
burning,  for  her  those  joyous  chants  rang  out,  "  It  is  the 
Easter  of  the  Lord,  rejoice,  O  ye  people!"  And  all  that 
was  good  in  the  world  was  for  her.  These  were  the 
thoughts  in  Nekhludof 's  mind  as  he  gazed  upon  her  slen 
der  form  in  its  daintily  tucked  white  frock;  and  the  en 
raptured  expression  of  her  face  seemed  to  assure  him  that 
the  singing  of  his  own  heart  found  an  echo  in  hers. 

During  the  interval  between  early  and  late  Mass, 
Nekhliidof  left  the  church.  The  people  bowed  and  made 
way  for  him  to  pass.  Some  knew  him,  and  others  asked, 
"What  family  does  he  belong  to?"  He  stopped  on  the 
church  steps.  The  beggars  instantly  gathered  round 
him,  and  giving  them  all  the  change  he  had  in  his  purse  he 
went  down  the  steps. 

It  was  near  dawn,  but  the  sun  was  not  yet  above  the 
horizon.  The  people  were  lingering  in  the  churchyard. 
Katiisha  was  still  in  church,  and  Nekhludof  waited  for  her. 

1  Frequently  used  for  carrying  water  in  rural  Russian  churches.  —  TR. 


RESURRECTION  71 

And  still  the  congregation  came  pouring  out,  —  the  hob 
nailed  shoes  clattering  down  the  stone  steps, — and,  sepa 
rating  in  different  directions,  the  people  wandered  through 
the  churchyard. 

Mdrya  Ivanovna's  candy-maker,  an  aged  man,  with 
palsied  head,  stopped  Nekhludof  and  gave  him  the  Easter 
kiss,  while  his  wife,  an  old  woman  whose  silken  kerchief 
did  not  hide  the  Adam's  apple  of  her  withered  throat, 
drew  a  saffron-colored  egg  from  her  pocket-handkerchief 
and  gave  it  to  him.  A  stalwart  young  peasant  in  a  new 
sleeveless  kaftan  with  a  green  sash  came  up  to  him. 

"  Christ  is  arisen,"  he  said  with  smiling  eyes,  and  as  he 
drew  nearer,  Nekhludof  could  perceive  the  peculiar  but 
not  disagreeable  peasant  odor;  then,  tickling  him  with  his 
curly  beard,  the  youth  kissed  him  squarely  on  the  mouth 
with  his  firm,  fresh  lips.  Just  as  Nekhludof  was  exchang 
ing  kisses  with  the  peasant  and  accepting  from  him  a  dark 
brown  egg,  Matrena  Pavlovna's  lavender  gown  and  the 
darling,  dusky  little  head  with  its  red  bow  came  in  sight. 

She  saw  him  in  a  minute  over  the  heads  of  those  who 
stood  in  front  of  her,  and  he  noticed  how  her  face  beamed. 
She  stood  with  Matrena  Pavlovna  in  the  porch,  dis 
tributing  alms  to  the  beggars.  A  beggar  with  a  red  scar 
where  his  nose  should  have  been,  approached  Katiisha. 
She  took  something  from  her  handkerchief,  gave  it  to 
him,  and  going  still  nearer,  without  evincing  the  slightest 
token  of  disgust,  her  eyes  still  beaming  with  happiness,  she 
exchanged  three  kisses  with  him.  And  while  she  was  kiss 
ing  the  beggar  her  eyes  met  those  of  Nekhludof  with  a 
questioning  look,  as  of  one  who  asks,  "Am  I  doing 
right?" 

"Yes,  dear,  yes;  everything  is  just  as  it  should  be,  for 
my  heart  is  filled  with  love."  When  they  descended  the 
steps  and  he  went  up  to  her,  he  had  no  intention  of  ex 
changing  the  Easter  greeting.  All  he  cared  for  was  to  be 
near  her. 

"Christ  has  arisen!"  said  Matre"na  Pdvlovna,  bending 


72  RESURRECTION 

her  head  sideways,  her  face  wreathed  in  smiles,  while  the 
tone  of  her  voice  said,  "  This  night  we  are  all  equal."  She 
drew  out  her  handkerchief  from  under  her  arm,  and 
having  wiped  her  mouth  she  calmly  offered  him  her  lips: 

"He  has  indeed!"  responded  Nekhludof,  exchanging 
kisses  with  her. 

He  looked  at  Katusha.  She  colored  and  instantly 
came  towards  him. 

"Christ  has  arisen,  Dmitri  Iva'novitch." 
"He  has  risen  indeed!"  he  answered. 
They  kissed  each  other,  and  then  they  paused  as  if  de 
liberating  whether  or  no  a  third  kiss  would  be  expected, 
and  having  concluded  that  it  would  be,  they  kissed  each 
other  for  the  third  time  and  then  they  smiled. 

"You  are  not  going  to  the  house  of  the  priest?"  asked 
Nekhludof. 

"No,  we  shall  stay  here  awhile,  Dmitri  Ivanovitch," 
replied  Katusha,  breathing  a  deep  sigh  of  content  like  one 
who  is  pleased  with  what  she  has  done.  And  she  looked 
straight  at  him  with  an  expression  of  loving  devotion  in 
her  girlish  eyes. 

In  the  love  of  a  man  for  a  woman  there  is  always  a 
moment  when  this  love  reaches  its  zenith,  when  it  is 
neither  self-conscious,  nor  self-seeking,  and  when  sensual 
ity  lies  dormant.  Such  a  moment  came  to  Nekhludof  on 
this  joyous  Easter  night.  When  in  after  years  he  chanced 
to  remember  Katusha,  this  was  always  the  moment  which 
eclipsed  all  others.  The  hair  so  dark  and  lustrous,  the 
tucked  white  dress,  gracefully  clinging  to  her  symmetrical, 
though  as  yet  undeveloped  figure,  the  blush,  the  sparkling 
and  tender  black  eyes,  all  denoted  the  presence  of  two 
ruling  traits:  purity  and  love;  love  not  only  for  him, — he 
knew  of  course  that  she  loved  him,  — but  of  love  for  every 
creature  that  breathed  the  breath  of  life,  and  not  only  did 
she  feel  for  those  who  were  good  and  beautiful  but  for 
the  poor  and  lowly,  down  to  the  very  beggar  whom  she 
had  kissed. 


RESURRECTION  73 

By  the  light  of  his  own  experience,  he  discerned  that 
love  in  her.  Last  night  this  same  love  crept  into  his  heart, 
and  now  he  realized  that  he  and  she  had  become  partners 
in  heart  and  soul. 

"Ah,  if  it  could  but  have  stopped  there,  with  the  feeling 
he  had  that  night!  Yes,  all  that  shameful  business  hap 
pened  after  Easter  Night!"  he  said  to  himself,  as  he  sat 
by  the  window  of  the  jury-room. 

XVI. 

ON  his  return  from  church,  Nekhlildof  broke  the  fast 
with  his  aunts,  and  by  way  of  stimulant — a  habit  con 
tracted  in  the  regiment — he  drank  a  glass  of  wine  and 
another  of  vodka,  and  went  directly  to  his  room,  where  he 
fell  asleep  without  undressing.  He  was  aroused  by  a 
knock  at  the  door.  Recognizing  Katiisha's  rap  he  rose, 
rubbing  his  eyes  and  stretching  himself. 

"Is  that  you,  Katusha?     Come  in,"  he  said,  rising. 

She  opened  the  door. 

"Lunch  is  ready,  and  they  are  waiting  for  you,"  she 
said. 

She  had  not  changed  her  white  dress,  but  the  knot  of 
ribbon  in  her  hair  was  gone.  Her  eyes  were  beaming  as 
she  looked  into  his,  as  though  she  had  brought  the  most 
joyful  tidings. 

"I  am  coming  immediately,"  he  said,  taking  up  the 
comb  and  beginning  to  comb  his  hair. 

She  stood  there  for  a  moment  and  he,  perceiving  it, 
dropped  the  comb,  and  took  a  step  or  two  towards  her. 
At  that  instant,  however,  she  turned  and  left  the  room. 
He  heard  her  light  footfall  on  the  striped  carpet  of  the 
corridor. 

"Well,  I  am  an  idiot!"  said  Nekhludof  to  himself. 
"Why  didn't  I  make  her  stay?" 

He  ran  out  into  the  corridor  and  overtook  her. 

He  couldn't  have  told  what  he  wanted,  but  while  she 


74  RESURRECTION 

was  in  his  room,  he  had  a  feteling  that  he  was  not  equal  to 
the  occasion.  There  was  something  he  ought  to  have 
done,  and  he  hadn't  done  it. 

"Wait  a  moment,  Katiisha,"  he  said. 

She  glanced  at  him. 

"What  is  it?"  she  asked,  pausing. 

"Nothing,  but " 

Then,  gripping  his  resolution,  he  called  to  mind  how  all 
the  men  he  knew  would  have  acted  under  the  circum 
stances,  and  put  his  arm  around  Katusha's  waist. 

She  stopped  and  looked  him  in  the  eyes. 

"You  mustn't,  Dmitri  Ivanovitch,  you  mustn't!"  she 
murmured,  blushing  till  the  tears  came,  and  pushing  his 
arm  away  with  her  strong,  white  hand. 

Nekhludof  released  her  and  for  a  moment  he  felt  un 
comfortable  enough,  not  only  mortified,  but  really  dis 
gusted  with  himself.  If  he  had  only  then  listened  to  the 
voice  of  his  conscience!  But  he  did  not  realize  that  this 
sense  of  mortification  and  discomfiture  represented  his 
better  nature  claiming  the  right  to  be  heard.  On  the  con 
trary,  he  accused  himself  of  stupidity,  and  wondered  why 
he  couldn't  be  more  like  other  men. 

He  overtook  her  in  the  corridor,  and  clasping  her  waist, 
he  kissed  her  on  the  neck.  This  kiss  was  different  from 
the  kisses  he  had  given  her  before,  the  one  behind  the  lilac 
bush,  and  the  Easter  kiss,  after  church  to-day.  This 
one  alarmed  her,  and  she  was  aware  of  that  fact. 

"Oh,  what  are  you  doing?"  she  cried;  there  was  a 
thrill  of  anguish  in  her  voice,  as  though  he  had  shattered 
her  dearest  treasure.  She  turned  quickly,  and  ran  away 
from  him. 

He  went  into  the  dining-room.  The  aunts,  elaborately 
dressed,  the  doctor  and  one  of  the  neighbors,  all  stood  near 
the  side-table  where  the  zakuska1  was  spread.  There  had 
been  no  change  whatever  in  the  household,  but  a  wild 
storm  had  arisen  within  Nekhludof's  breast.  He  hardly 

1 A  light  lunch  served  on  a  side-table.  —  TR. 


RESURRECTION  75 

understood  anything  that  was  said  to  him,  and  made  all 
sorts  of  haphazard  replies ;  all  he  thought  of  was  Katilsha 
and  the  tingling  of  that  last  kiss  when  he  caught  her  in 
the  corridor,  and  he  could  think  of  nothing  else.  When 
she  entered,  although  he  made  a  strenuous  effort  not  to 
raise  his  eyes  to  hers,  he  felt  her  presence  in  every  fiber  of 
his  being. 

After  dinner  he  went  into  his  room,  and  too  much  ex 
cited  to  sit  still  walked  up  and  down,  listening  to  every 
sound  in  the  house  and  expecting  at  any  moment  to  hear 
her  footstep. 

His  animal  nature  had  won  the  upper  hand,  while  his 
spiritual  nature,  which  had  controlled  during  the  former 
visit,  and  which  had  been  uppermost  even  that  very  morn 
ing  in  church,  was  now  trampled  underfoot.  That 
raging  beast  had  complete  possession  of  his  soul.  All  the 
rest  of  the  day  Nekhliidof  watched  for  Katusha,  but  he 
never  caught  one  glimpse  of  her. 

Probably  she  was  trying  to  avoid  him.  Towards  even 
ing  she  had  occasion  to  go  into  the  room  adjoining  his. 
The  doctor  was  to  spend  the  night,  and  Katusha  had  been 
sent  to  make  his  bed. 

Hearing  her  footsteps,  Nekhliidof  followed  her.  Tread 
ing  softly  and  holding  his  breath,  as  if  he  were  about  to 
commit  some  crime,  he  entered  the  room.  She  was  put 
ting  on  a  fresh  pillow  case,  and  still  holding  it  by  the 
corners,  she  looked  at  him  over  her  shoulder  and  smiled; 
but  not  with  the  joyous  smile  he  knew  so  well!  It  was 
pitiful  to  see  her  so  frightened.  Her  smile  seemed  to 
reproach  him  for  his  wicked  thoughts.  For  a  moment  he 
paused;  it  was  his  last  chance  to  struggle  against  the 
temptation.  The  voice  of  his  honest  love  for  her  was 
speaking,  and  though  it  was  but  a  feeble  whisper,  it 
bade  him  remember  her  feelings,  her  life. 

And  then  the  other  voice  broke  in,  "  Are  you  going  to 
let  a  chance  like  this  slip  by,  and  lose  all  your  own  pleasure 
and  happiness?" 


76  RESURRECTION 

He  was  now  the  slave  of  a  wild,  ungovernable  passion. 
Hesitating  no  longer,  he  crossed  the  room,  and  taking  her 
in  his  arms  he  made  her  sit  down  on  the  bed,  and  feeling 
that  more  remained  to  be  done  seated  himself  beside  her. 

"Dmitri  Ivdnovitch,  my  darling,  please  let  me  go,"  she 
said.  Her  voice  was  faint  and  piteous.  "  I  hear  Matrena 
Ivdnovna  coming!"  she  cried,  and  in  fact  the  sound  of 
approaching  steps  was  really  heard. 

"Then  I  will  come  to  you  in  the  night.  You'll  be 
alone?"  he  muttered. 

"  Oh,  no,  no!  You  mustn't,"  her  lips  said;  but  alas,  the 
tumult  in  her  heart  gainsaid  her  words. 

It  really  was  Matrena  Pavlovna  bringing  a  comforter. 
With  a  glance  of  reproach  at  Nekhludof ,  she  began  to  rep 
rimand  Katiisha  for  having  taken  the  wrong  bed-quilt. 

Nekhludof  left  the  room  without  a  word.  He  felt  a 
vestige  of  shame,  though  he  was  not  blind  to  the  expres 
sion  of  Matrena  Ivanovna's  face  and  acknowledged  that 
she  was  in  the  right.  But  now,  under  the  full  sway  of 
passion,  he  was  incapable  of  recognizing  any  other  point  of 
view.  He  knew  well  enough  what  must  be  done  to  satisfy 
this  passion,  and  was  absorbed  in  seeking  his  opportunity. 

He  was  restless  all  the  evening,  wandering  from  room  to 
room.  Once  he  went  out  and  stood  on  the  porch,  all  the 
while  contriving  schemes  for  seeing  Katusha  alone.  But 
she  avoided  him,  and  Matrena  Ivanovna  watched  her. 

XVII. 

So  the  evening  wore  away  and  the  night  came  on.  The 
doctor  had  retired  and  the  aunts  were  also  preparing  to 
retire. 

Nekhludof  knew  that  Matrena  Pavlovna  was  now  with 
his  aunts  and  that  Katusha  was  probably  alone  in  the 
maids'  room.  He  went  out  on  the  porch  again.  . 

It  was  dark,  and  the  mild  night  air  felt  very  damp. 
That  white  vapor  born  of  the  belated  snows  of  spring- 


RESURRECTION  77 

time,  and  serving  also  to  melt  them  away,  filled  the  air. 
Strange  sounds  rose  from  the  river  that  flowed  at  the  foot 
of  a  steep  bank  not  far  from  the  house.  It  was  the  sound 
of  the  breaking  ice.  Nekhliidof  ran  down  the  porch  steps 
and  using  the  patches  of  icy  snow  for  stepping  stones 
made  his  way  across  the  puddles  and  round  to  the  window 
of  the  maids'  room.  He  could  almost  hear  the  beating 
of  his  heart.  Once  or  twice  he  gasped  for  breath  and 
heaved  a  deep  sigh. 

The  room  was  lighted  by  one  small  lamp.  Katusha 
sat  pensively  by  the  table,  gazing  at  vacancy.  Nekhliidof 
watched  her  for  a  long  time  without  moving;  he  wondered 
what  she  would  be  likely  to  do,  believing  herself  quite 
alone.  She  sat  thus  motionless  for  some  minutes,  then 
with  an  upward  glance  she  shook  her  head  in  smiling  re 
proof,  so  it  seemed,  of  her  secret  thoughts.  Hurriedly 
shifting  her  position,  she  leaned  her  arms  on  the  table 
and  again  fixed  her  eyes  on  the  vacancy  before  her. 

As  he  stood  there  watching,  he  could  hear  the  throb 
bing  of  his  own  heart,  and  the  mysterious  sounds  arising 
from  the  river.  There  too,  out  in  the  fog,  a  slow,  un 
ceasing  struggle  was  going  on;  the  thin  ice  cracked  and 
hissed;  then,  as  it  broke  and  fell  in  shattered  bits,  it 
resembled  the  crash  of  broken  glass. 

Gazing  at  her  face,  which  showed  so  plainly  the  strug 
gle  that  was  going  on  in  her  soul,  he  pitied  her,  but  this 
very  sense  of  pity  served  only  to  increase  his  excitement. 
He  was  like  one  beside  himself. 

He  tapped  on  the  window.  She  trembled  as  though 
she  had  received  an  electric  shock  and  a  look  of  horror 
came  into  her  face.  She  sprang  from  her  seat,  ran  to  the 
window,  and  screening  her  eyes  with  her  hands  pressed 
her  face  close  against  the  pane.  She  recognized  him, 
but  the  fixed  look  of  horror  seemed  to  form  part  of  her 
face.  Never  had  he  seen  her  look  so  solemn.  She 
smiled  meekly  when  he  smiled,  but  in  her  heart,  so  full 
,of  anguish,  there  was  no  room  for  smiles.  He  beckoned 


78  RESURRECTION 

to  her  to  come  out  into  the  yard,  but  she  shook  her  head 
and  remained  standing  by  the  window.  Once  more  he 
put  his  face  to  the  window-pane  and  was  about  to  entreat 
her  to  come  out,  when  she  turned  suddenly  towards  the 
door,  as  if  some  one  had  spoken  to  her  from  within. 
Nekhludof  moved  away  from  the  window.  The  fog 
was  so  dense  that  the  windows  couldn't  be  seen  five  steps 
away,  and  only  something  dark  and  huge  could  be  dis 
tinguished  against  which  the  red  light  of  the  lamp  was 
magnified  by  the  mist;  and  all  the  while  the  dreadful 
creaking,  crackling,  and  hissing  of  the  ice  could  be  heard 
going  on  below.  Suddenly  near  by  a  cock  crowed;  then 
another,  and  presently,  from  far  away,  the  village  roosters 
joined  the  chorus.  Everything  near  the  house  was 
quiet,  except  the  river.  The  cocks  had  crowed  once 
before  that  night.  After  walking  to  and  fro  behind  the 
corner  of  the  house  and  stepping  into  an  occasional 
puddle,  Nekhludof  went  back  to  the  window  of  the 
maids'  room.  The  lamp  was  still  burning,  and  Katusha 
sat  at  the  table  with  the  same  look  of  indecision  on  her 
face.  As  he  approached  the  window  she  looked  toward 
him,  and  when  she  heard  the  knock,  never  paused  to  ask 
who  was  there,  but  ran  quickly  out  of  the  maids'  room, 
and  he  heard  the  outer  door  creak  as  she  opened  it.  He 
was  waiting  for  her  by  the  porch,  and  put  his  arms  round 
her.  Without  a  word  she  clung  to  him,  and  as  she  raised 
her  head  he  kissed  her  on  the  lips.  They  stood  behind 
the  corner  of  the  porch  on  a  spot  where  the  snow  had 
melted  away,  and  the  ground  was  dry.  He  was  quiver 
ing  with  excitement.  Then  came  the  creak  of  the  outer 
door  and  the  angry  voice  of  Matrena  Pavlovna  calling: 

"  Katusha." 

She  slipped  away  from  him  and  ran  into  the  house. 
He  heard  the  door  latched,  then  all  was  still;  the  red 
light  in  the  window  vanished,  and  he  was  left  alone  with 
the  fog  and  the  voices  of  the  river. 

Nekhltidof  went  up  to  the  window,  but  there  was  noth- 


RESURRECTION  79 

ing  to  be  seen.  He  rapped,  but  no  one  answered.  Then 
he  went  into  the  house  through  the  front  door,  but  he 
could  not  go  to  sleep.  Taking  off  his  boots,  he  walked 
bare-footed  along  the  corridor  to  her  door,  which  was  next 
to  the  room  occupied  by  Matrena  Pavlovna.  He  listened 
to  the  peaceful  snoring  of  the  latter,  and  was  just  going 
on  when  he  heard  her  cough  and  turn  over  in  her  creak 
ing  bed.  For  five  minutes  he  stood  motionless.  Then 
when  all  was  quiet  again,  and  Matrena  had  resumed  her 
monotonous  snoring,  he  moved  on,  trying  to  avoid  boards 
that  creaked.  He  crept  up  to  Katusha's  room.  It 
was  very  still  inside,  but  he  was  sure  she  was  awake  be 
cause  he  could  not  hear  her  breathing.  Very  softly  he 
called,  "Katusha!"  and  the  moment  she  heard  him,  she 
jumped  up,  came  to  the  door,  and  tried  to  remonstrate 
with  him.  It  seemed  as  if  she  were  scolding. 

"What  does  this  mean!  How  can  you  behave  so? 
Your  aunts  will  hear  you,"  said  the  lips,  while  the  spirit 
affirmed,  "I  am  thine."  It  was  the  voice  of  the  spirit 
that  Nekhludof  understood. 

"  Open  the  door  just  a  minute,  I  entreat  you!"  There 
was  no  sense  in  his  words.  She  was  silent,  and  he  heard 
her  hand  fumbling  for  the  hook.  It  rose  with  a  click 
and  he  went  in. 

Seizing  her  in  his  arms  as  she  stood  there  in  her  coarse 
chemise  with  her  bare  arms,  he  started  for  his  room. 

"What  are  you  doing?"  she  whispered.  But  he  paid 
no  heed  and  went  on. 

"  Oh,  let  me  go,"  she  kept  repeating,  clinging  closer  to 
him  all  the  while. 

When  she  left  him,  silent  and  trembling,  he  stepped  out 
on  to  the  porch  and  stood  there  trying  to  realize  what  he 
had  done. 

It  was  almost  daylight.  The  noise  from  the  breaking 
up  of  the  ice  in  the  river  below  was  louder  than  ever,  and 
a  new  sound  of  gurgling  water  could  be  heard.  The  mist 


8o  RESURRECTION 

was  settling  and  from  behind  its  walls  the  newly-risen 
moon,  already  waning,  shed  its  meager  light  on  something 
black  and  terrible. 

"What  was  it?  Was  it  a  great  happiness  or  a  great 
misfortune  that  had  befallen  him  ?"  he  asked  himself. 
"It's  an  everyday  affair;  everybody  does  it,"  he  said  to 
himself  and  went  back  to  bed. 


XVIII. 

THE  next  day  the  gay  and  brilliant  Shoenbock  made  his 
appearance.  The  refinement  and  charm  of  his  manner, 
his  generosity  and  above  all  his  devotion  to  Dmitri,  quite 
captivated  the  aunts.  But  although  his  generosity  was 
attractive,  its  utter  recklessness  did  certainly  amaze  them. 
He  gave  a  rouble  to  some  blind  beggars  and  fifteen  roubles 
in  fees  to  the  servants,  and  when  Suzetka,  Sophya  Ivan- 
ovna's  lapdog,  happened  to  graze  her  leg,  he  instantly 
tore  a  strip  from  his  linen  cambric  handkerchief  to  make  a 
bandage  for  it.  Sdphya  Ivanovna  knew  that  such  hand 
kerchiefs  could  not  be  bought  for  less  than  fifteen  roubles 
a  dozen.  The  aunts  had  never  met  a  man  like  this;  they 
had  no  idea  that  this  Shoenbock  owed  more  than  two  hun 
dred  thousand  roubles,  which  he  knew  he  could  never  pay. 
Little  he  cared  for  the  twenty-five  roubles,  more  or  less. 
Shoenbock  remained  only  one  day  and  on  the  following 
night,  their  furlough  having  expired,  he  and  Nekhliidof 
departed  together.  During  that  last  day  of  Nekhliidof's 
visit  to  his  aunts,  when  the  events  of  the  past  night  were 
still  fresh  in  his  mind,  two  conflicting  emotions  struggled 
within  him:  one  was  the  burning  recollection  of  sensual 
love — whose  realization  however  fell  far  short  of  its 
promise — accompanied  by  a  certain  satisfaction  at  hav 
ing  accomplished  his  object;  the  other  was  a  consciousness 
of  wrongdoing  that  he  must  try  to  repair,  not  so  much  for 
her  sake  as  for  his  own. 


RESURRECTION  81 

In  his  present  condition  of  selfish  madness  Nekhliidof 
thought  only  of  himself,  the  question  of  her  feelings  or 
future  welfare  concerned  him  far  less  than  the  blame  that 
might  be  visited  upon  himself  were  it  known  how  he  had 
behaved  towards  her. 

He  took  it  for  granted  that  Shoenbock  suspected  his  re 
lations  with  Katusha,  and  this  tickled  his  vanity. 

"  No  wonder  that  you  grew  so  fond  of  your  aunts  all  of 
a  sudden,  that  you  had  to  stay  a  whole  week,"  Shoenbock 
observed  after  seeing  Katusha.  "  I  should  have  done  the 
same  thing.  She's  a  charming  little  thing." 

Nekhludof ,  thinking  the  matter  over,  made  up  his  mind 
that  although  it  seemed  a  pity  to  leave  at  once,  before  he 
had  fully  gratified  his  passion  for  her,  it  would  be  just  as 
well  to  close  at  once  relations  which  might  grow  irksome, 
if  continued.  He  was  also  thinking  that  he  ought  to  give 
her  some  money,  not  because  she  was  likely  to  need  it, 
but  because  it  is  customary  in  such  cases,  and  he  would 
be  considered  rather  dishonorable  if,  having  taken  ad 
vantage  of  her,  he  didn't  pay  her  for  it;  so  he  gave  her  a 
sum  of  money  which  he  considered  suitable  for  him  to 
give  and  fitting  for  her  to  receive. 

It  was  after  dinner  on  the  day  of  departure  that  he  lin 
gered  in  the  vestibule,  waiting  for  her.  She  blushed 
when  she  saw  him  and  was  about  to  pass  on,  glancing 
significantly  at  the  open  door  of  the  maids'  room,  but 
he  detained  her. 

"  I  wanted  to  say  good-by,"  he  said,  crumpling  in  one 
hand  an  envelope  containing  a  hundred-rouble  note. 

t(  T    » 

She  guessed  what  he  meant,  and  frowned  as  she  shook 
her  head  and  pushed  away  his  hand. 

"No,  no,  you  must  take  it,"  he  muttered  and  thrust  the 
envelope  into  the  front  of  her  waist;  and  then  he  rushed 
back  to  his  room  groaning  aloud  like  a  man  who  has 
burned  himself  playing  with  fire,  and  for  some  time  he 
paced  the  floor  in  real  distress,  groaning  aloud  as  though 
VOL.  i. — 6 


82  RESURRECTION 

the  mere  thbught  of  what  he  had  just  done  gave  him 
physical  pain. 

But  what  could  he  have  done?  It  was  the  same  old 
story.  The  same  thing  happened  to  Shoenbock  and  the 
governess,  as  the  former  had  told  him,  and  with  Uncle 
Grfsha,  and  with  his  own  father  when  he  lived  in  the 
country  and  had  that  illegitimate  child  by  a  peasant  wo 
man,  the  same  Mitinka  who  was  still  living;  and  if  every 
body  does  it  how  can  it  be  helped  ?  In  this  way  he  tried 
to  comfort  himself  witnout  success.  The  recollection 
burned  his  conscience. 

At  the  bottom  of  his  heart  he  knew  that  he  had  played  a 
dastardly  and  cruel  part.  He  knew  that  he  had  forfeited 
his  own  self-respect  and  lost  all  right  to  be  considered  the 
upright,  noble-hearted,  generous  fellow  he  had  always 
meant  to  be.  He  could  neither  look  an  honest  man  in 
the  eye  nor  blame  a  fellow-sinner.  And  yet  he  must  keep 
up  his  courage  if  he  wanted  to  lead  a  merry  life.  There 
was  only  one  way  to  do  that,  to  forget  the  past,  and  after 
a  while  he  succeeded  in  doing  that.  His  new  life  and  en 
vironments,  his  gay  companions  and  the  war,  each  con 
tributed  its  share  towards  this  result,  and  the  longer  he 
lived  the  less  he  remembered,  until  in  these  latter  days  it 
never  came  into  his  mind. 

Once  only,  and  that  was  after  the  war,  when  on  his  way 
home  he  had  stopped  over  at  his  aunts',  hoping  to  see 
Katiisha,  he  had  been  told  that  shortly  after  his  last  visit 
she  had  left  the  house.  She  was  then  about  to  become  a 
mother.  The  aunts  indeed  had  been  told  that  she  had  in 
fact  given  birth  to  a  child,  and  after  that  she  had  gone 
from  bad  to  worse.  That  made  his  heart  ache.  Judging 
by  the  time  of  its  birth,  the  chances  were  the  child  was  his. 
His  aunts  seemed  to  think  that  the  girl  had  a  depraved 
nature  like  her  mother.  This  view  of  her  character, 
which  seemed  to  offer  a  certain  excuse  for  his  own  con 
duct,  was  rather  consoling  to  him.  He  had  intended  at 
first  to  look  her  up  and  the  baby  too,  but  he  never  had  the 


RESURRECTION  83 

energy  to  take  the  first  steps,  partly  because  the  thought 
of  her  mortified  him,  besides  giving  him  actual  pain,  and 
partly  because,  as  time  went  on,  his  sin  faded  from  his 
recollection  until  finally  he  ceased  to  think  of  it  at  all. 

But  now  this  strange  coincidence,  recalling  all  the  past, 
compelled  him  to  acknowledge  his  own  heartlessness,  and 
the  baseness  of  his  character,  which  had  permitted  him 
to  live  ten  years  with  this  sin  on  his  conscience.  Still,  he 
had  not  the  faintest  intention  of  making  a  public  con 
fession,  but  was  only  trying  to  think  how  he  could  con 
ceal  the  facts  and  prevent  her  lawyer  from  denouncing 
him  before  the  Court. 

XIX. 

IN  this  frame  of  mind  Nekhldkof  left  the  court-room 
and  went  into  the  jury-room,  where  he  took  a  seat  near 
the  window,  smoking  all  the  time  while  he  listened  to  the 
talk  that  went  on  around  him.  The  jolly  merchant  was 
evidently  in  sympathy  with  the  way  merchant  Smelkdf 
passed  his  time. 

"Well,  sir,  he  had  his  fling  Siberian  fashion,  let  me  tell 
you!  He  was  no  fool,  either,  to  have  chosen  a  girl  like 
that!" 

The  foreman  was  giving  his  views;  he  declared  that 
everything  depended  on  the  testimony  of  the  experts. 
Piotr  Gherassimovitch  and  the  Jewish  clerk  were  laugh 
ing  over  some  joke  they  had  between  themselves.  Nekh- 
liidof  answered  all  questions  in  monosyllables,  desiring 
only  to  be  left  alone. 

When  the  officer  of  the  Court  with  his  sidling  gait 
called  the  jury  back  into  the  court-room,  Nekhliidof  was 
panic-stricken;  he  felt  more  like  a  culprit  than  a  judge. 
At  the  bottom  of  his  heart  he  knew  he  was  a  base  wretch 
who  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  look  a  fellow-being  in  the 
face,  and  yet  by  force  of  habit  he  stepped  upon  the  plat 
form  with  his  usual  self-possession,  and  resuming  his 


84  RESURRECTION 

former  seat  next  but  one  to  the  foreman,  he  crossed  his 
legs  and  toyed  idly  with  his  pince-nez. 

The  prisoners,  who  had  also  been  taken  out,  now  re 
turned  to  their  seats.  There  were  a  good  many  new  faces 
in  the  room,  presumably  witnesses,  and  Nekhlridof 
noticed  that  Maslova  seemed  unable  to  take  her  eyes  off 
a  portly  woman  who  sat  in  the  front  row  behind  the  rail 
ing.  She  was  richly  dressed  and  wore  on  her  head  a 
high  hat  trimmed  with  a  large  bow.  From  her  arm,  bared 
to  the  elbow,  hung  an  elegant  bag.  This  woman,  as 
he  was  afterwards  informed,  was  one  of  the  witnesses;  she 
was  mistress  of  the  establishment  with  which  Maslova  was 
connected.  The  examination  of  the  witnesses  began; 
their  names,  religion,  etc.,  were  asked.  Then  after  some 
consultation  between  the  contending  parties  in  regard  to 
the  swearing  in  of  witnesses,  some  preferring  to  question 
their  witnesses  under  oath,  and  others  opposing  that 
method,  the  same  old  priest  came  toiling  in,  and  with 
the  same  gestures  readjusted  the  gold  cross  on  his  breast, 
and  with  the  same  tranquil  self-assurance,  as  though  he 
were  performing  a  most  useful  and  important  duty,  he 
swore  in  the  witnesses  and  the  experts.  After  the  oath 
had  been  administered,  the  witnesses  left  the  room  under 
escort,  all  except  Kitaeva,  the  proprietress  of  the  house  of 
ill  fame.  She  was  asked  to  tell  what  she  knew  of  the 
case.  With  a  strong  German  accent,  but  clearly  and 
intelligently,  emphasizing  every  sentence  by  a  nod  of  her 
head  and  with  an  artificial  smile  overspreading  her  face, 
she  gave  her  evidence  as  follows : 

In  the  first  place  a  rich  Siberian  merchant  had  sent 
Simon,  the  hotel  servant,  to  her  house  for  one  of  her  girls, 
and  she  had  sent  him  Lubdsha.  Later  on  Lubasha  came 
back  with  the  merchant.  He  was  already  somewhat  hila 
rious — here  she  smiled  slightly  —  and  went  on  drinking 
and  treating  the  girls;  but  his  money  gave  out,  and  he 
sent  this  same  Lubasha,  for  whom  he  had  taken  a  great 
fancy,  back  to  the  room  he  occupied  in  the  hotel.  She 


RESURRECTION  85 

glanced  at  the  prisoner  as  she  said  this,  and  Nekhludof 
thought  he  saw  Maslova  smile  too,  and  the  sight  of  that 
smile  produced  a  sensation  of  disgust,  softened,  it  is  true, 
by  compassion. 

"  What  was  your  opinion  of  Maslova  ?"  asked  the  candi 
date  for  a  judicial  post,  appointed  by  the  Court  for  her  de 
fense.  The  color  came  into  his  face  as  he  spoke. 

"Excellent,"  replied  Kitaeva.  "She  is  an  etucated 
girl  and  with  blenty  ov  style  apout  her.  She  was  prought 
up  in  a  goot  family  and  can  reat  French.  Sometimes 
she  would  take  a  trop  too  much,  but  she  nefer  was  imbu- 
dent.  A  ferry  goot  sort  ov  girl." 

Katusha  glanced  from  her  former  mistress  to  the  jury, 
and  a  stern  and  solemn  expression  deepened  in  her  eyes; 
—  there  was  a  slight  cast  in  one  of  them.  For  a  percepti 
ble  space  of  time  those  eyes  rested  on  Nekhludof.  In 
spite  of  the  sensation  of  terror  that  crept  over  him,  he 
could  not  detach  his  gaze  from  those  squinting  eyes  with 
their  whites  so  bright  and  clear.  They  recalled  that 
dreadful  night,  with  its  mist  and  breaking  ice;  again  he 
seemed  to  see  the  waning  moon  that  rose  near  daybreak 
and  shed  its  light  on  something  black  and  horrible. 
Those  two  black  eyes,  which,  though  fixed  upon  his  face, 
gave  the  impression  of  looking  beyond  him,  made  him 
think  of  that  black  and  horrible  incubus. 

"She  recognized  me,"  he  thought,  and  flinched  like 
one  who  expects  a  blow.  But  she  had  not  recognized 
him.  She  drew  a  long,  sighing  breath,  and  turned  her 
eyes  on  the  Presiding  Justice.  Nekhludof  sighed  too. 

"  If  it  were  only  over,"  he  thought.  It  seemed  as  if  he 
were  out  hunting  and  had  a  wounded  bird  to  put  out  of 
its  misery.  He  had  felt  this  same  sense  of  vexation  and 
pity  when  the  bird  fluttered  in  the  bag;  he  was  only  eager 
to  put  an  end  to  its  suffering  and  forget  it.  These  were 
the  mingled  emotions  that  filled  Nekhludof  s  breast  as  he 
sat  listening  to  the  examination  of  witnesses. 


86  RESURRECTION 

XX. 

IT  really  seemed  as  if  they  dawdled  over  the  case,  just 
to  torment  him.  After  each  witness,  the  expert  included, 
had  been  examined  in  turn  and  all  sorts  of  irrelevant 
questions  had  been  asked  by  the  Assistant  Prosecutor 
and  the  lawyers  with  the  usual  air  of  importance,  the 
Presiding  Justice  invited  the  jury  to  examine  the  articles 
presented  as  material  evidence.  These  consisted  of  an 
immense  ring  with  a  cluster  of  diamonds,  which  had  evi 
dently  been  worn  on  the  first  finger  of  a  large  hand,  and 
the  test-tube  containing  the  poison  which  had  been  an 
alyzed.  Labels  and  seals  were  attached  to  these  objects. 

Just  as  the  jurymen  were  about  to  examine  them,  the 
Assistant  Prosecutor  arose  and  demanded  that  the  Medi 
cal  Examiner's  Report  should  be  read  before  proceeding 
to  the  examination  of  those  articles. 

The  Presiding  Justice,  who  was  anxious  to  finish  the 
case  in  time  to  keep  his  appointment  with  his  Swiss  girl, 
although  he  knew  perfectly  well  that  the  reading  of  this 
paper  would  be  nothing  but  a  bore,  besides  delaying  the 
dinner  hour,  and  also  that  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  only 
demanded  it  because  he  had  no  notion  of  yielding  any  of 
his  prerogatives,  knew  also  that  he  had  no  alternative  but 
to  consent.  The  Secretary  took  the  document,  and  in  his 
lisping,  monotonous  fashion,  slurring  all  the  1's  and  r's, 
began  to  read  as  follows: 

1.  Ferapont  Smelk6f's  height  was  six  feet  and  five 
inches.     "He  must  have  been  an  enormous  man!"  whis 
pered  the  merchant  in  tones  of  awe  in  Nekhliidof's  ear. 

2.  Judging   from   outward   appearances   about   forty 
years  of  age. 

3.  The  corpse  presented  a  swollen  appearance. 

4.  The  flesh,  of  a  uniform  greenish  hue,  showed  dark 
spots  in  places. 

5.  The  skin  was  blistered,  and  had  peeled  off  here  and 
there. 


RESURRECTION  87 

6.  The  hair  was  dark  brown,  abundant,  and  easily  de 
tached  from  the  skin. 

7.  The  eyeballs  were  starting  from  their  sockets,  and 
the  cornea  looked  dim. 

8.  From  the  nostrils,  ears,  and  partly  open  mouth  a 
watery  matter  was  oozing. 

9.  The  face  and  chest  have  swelled  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  neck  could  no  longer  be  seen,  etc.,  etc. 

The  examination  of  the  outward  appearance  of  that 
swollen  and  putrefied  corpse  which  had  been  the  body  of 
the  jovial  merchant  was  detailed  in  twenty-seven  items 
and  occupied  four  pages.  When  the  reading  was  going 
on,  an  indescribable  sense  of  disgust  and  loathing  took 
possession  of  Nekhludof.  The  aspect  of  this  revolting 
corpse  seemed  a  part  of  the  same  order  of  things  that  had 
brought  about  his  betrayal  of  Katusha  and  her  subsequent 
career.  He  felt  like  one  surrounded  by  horrors  from 
which  he  could  never  escape.  When  the  reading  of  the 
external  examination  was  finally  concluded,  the  Presiding 
Justice  raised  his  head  with  a  sigh  of  relief,  as  if  he  hoped 
it  was  all  over;  but  the  Secretary  at  once  proceeded  with 
the  reading  of  the  examination  of  the  intestines.  Again 
the  head  of  the  Presiding  Justice  drooped,  and  resting  on 
his  elbow  he  closed  his  eyes.  The  merchant  who  sat  be 
side  Nekhludof  could  hardly  keep  his  eyes  open;  that  he 
did,  in  fact,  lose  himself  was  betrayed  by  the  sudden 
lurching  of  his  body.  The  accused  as  well  as  the  gen 
darmes  also  remained  motionless.  The  examination  of 
the  internal  organs  showed  that: 

1.  The  covering  of  the  skull  was  easily  separated  from 
the  bones,  and  nowhere  was  there  any  sign  of  bruises. 

2.  The  bones  of  the  skull  were  of  average  thickness 
and  in  a  perfect  condition. 

3.  There  were  two  dark-colored  spots  on  the  cerebral 
membrane,  each  one  measuring  about  four  inches;  the 
membrane  itself  was  pale  in  color,  and  so  on,  for  thirteen 
paragraphs.     Then  came  the  names  and  signatures  of 


88  RESURRECTION 

the  experts  and  finally  the  conclusion  of  the  Medical  Ex 
aminer  which  showed  that  the  changes  in  the  stomach, 
and  to  a  lesser  degree  in  the  kidneys  and  bowels,  revealed 
by  the  autopsy,  lent  a  greater  probability  to  the  conclusion 
that  Smelkof's  death  was  caused  by  the  poison  introduced 
into  his  system  through  the  medium  of  wine.  Owing  to 
the  changes  that  had  taken  place  in  the  stomach  and 
bowels,  it  was  difficult  to  state  precisely  what  kind  of 
poison  had  been  used,  but  the  presence  of  a  large  quantity 
of  alcohol  in  his  stomach  seemed  to  indicate  that  this 
poison  had  been  introduced  into  his  wine. 

"He  must  have  been  a  great  toper,"  whispered  the 
merchant,  as  he  roused  himself  from  his  slumbers. 

But  apparently  even  the  reading  of  this  report,  which 
lasted  fully  an  hour,  was  not  enough  for  the  Assistant 
Prosecutor,  for  when  the  Presiding  Justice  turned  to 
wards  him  and  said,  "I  suppose  it  would  be  superfluous 
to  read  the  special  report  on  the  intestines,"  he  drew  him 
self  up  in  his  chair  and  without  even  glancing  at  the 
Presiding  Justice,  said  in  a  severe  tone  of  voice,  "  I  must 
request  to  have  it  read!"  He  would  give  his  Honor  to 
understand  that  the  Prosecutor's  rights  were  not  to  be 
trifled  with.  He  had  a  right  to  have  the  report  read, 
and  a  refusal  would  be  regarded  as  a  cause  for  appeal. 
Here  the  victim  of  catarrh  of  the  stomach,  the  Member 
with  the  beard  and  kindly  eyes,  feeling  quite  worn  out, 
said  to  the  Presiding  Justice: 

"What  is  the  use  of  reading  all  that  stuff?  It  only 
prolongs  the  case.  These  new  brooms  sweep  no  cleaner; 
they're  longer  about  it,  that's  all." 

The  Member  with  the  gold  spectacles  made  no  reply, 
gazing  at  vacancy  with  an  air  of  gloom  and  fortitude,  as 
if  he  had  ceased  to  expect  anything  good  from  wife  or 
from  life. 

The  reading  began: 

"188-,  February  the  fifteenth,  I,  the  undersigned, 
in  compliance  with  an  order  from  the  Medical  Depart- 


RESURRECTION  89 

ment  numbered  638,'''  read  the  Secretary,  pitching  his 
voice  in  such  a  key  as  to  preclude  any  possible  chance  of 
slumber,  "and  in  the  presence  of  the  Assistant  Medical 
Inspector,  have  made  an  examination  of  the  following 
internal  organs: 

1.  The  right  lung  and  heart  (contained  in  a  six  Ib. 
glass  jar). 

2.  The  contents  of  the  stomach  (in  a  six  Ib.  glass  jar). 

3.  Of  the  stomach  itself  (in  a  six  Ib.  glass  jar). 

4.  Of  the  liver,  the  spleen  and  the  kidneys  (in  the  three 
Ib.  glass  jar). 

5.  Of  the  intestines  (in  the  six  Ib.  earthenware  jar). 
..."     At  the  beginning  of  the  reading  the  Presiding 
Justice  leaned  first  towards  one  Member  and  then  to 
wards  another,  whispering  to  each  in  turn,  and  having  re 
ceived  an  affirmative  answer,  he  interrupted  the  reading. 

"  The  Court  considers  the  reading  of  this  report  super 
fluous,"  he  said.  The  Secretary  paused  and  gathered  up 
his  papers,  while  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  with  an  angry 
look  began  making  notes. 

"The  gentlemen  of  the  jury  may  now  examine  the  ma 
terial  evidence,"  said  the  Presiding  Justice. 

The  foreman  and  several  of  the  jurors,  not  quite  know 
ing  what  to  do  with  their  hands,  went  up  to  the  table  and 
took  turns  in  examining  the  ring,  the  glass  jar,  and  the 
test-tube.  The  merchant  even  tried  on  the  ring. 

"What  a  finger  he  must  have  had!"  he  said,  returning 
to  his  seat.  "Like  a  cucumber,"  he  added,  gloating, 
as  it  were,  over  the  gigantic  proportions  of  the  deceased 
merchant. 

XXL 

WHEN  this  examination  of  the  articles  of  material 
evidence  was  over,  the  Presiding  Justice  declared  that  the 
investigation  was  concluded,  and  feeling  eager  to  finish 
the  business  as  quickly  as  possible,  he  took  no  recess,  but 


90  RESURRECTION 

gave  word  to  the  Prosecutor  to  begin  his  argument,  hop 
ing  that  as  he  was  but  human  after  all,  he  might  want  to 
smoke  and  dine  himself,  and  therefore  have  some  mercy 
on  the  rest  of  them.  But  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  had 
no  more  idea  of  showing  mercy  to  himself  than  to  others. 
He  was  very  stupid  by  nature,  and  having  had  the  mis 
fortune  to  graduate  from  the  Gymnasia  with  a  gold  medal 
and  to  receive  a  prize  for  his  essay  on  slavery  while 
he  was  studying  Roman  Law  at  the  University,  his 
conceit  knew  no  bounds,  and  aided  by  his  success  with 
women,  had  become  truly  monumental.  Rising  slowly 
from  his  seat,  conscious  of  his  graceful  figure  in  its 
gold-embroidered  uniform,  and  leaning  on  the  desk, 
slightly  inclining  his  head,  as  if  to  avoid  the  eyes  of  the 
prisoners,  he  looked  towards  the  public  and  began: 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Jury: 

"The  case  now  before  you  is  a  typical  one."  He  had 
been  preparing  his  address  during  the  reading  of  the  re 
ports  of  the  medical  investigation,  and  he  fully  expected 
that  like  the  arguments  of  other  famous  lawyers  it  would 
make  a  profound  impression.  To  be  sure  his  audience 
was  composed  of  three  women:  a  seamstress,  a  cook, 
Simon's  sister,  and  a  coachman.  But  what  of  that? 
Other  celebrated  lawyers  had  begun  in  the  same  way. 
His  theories  in  regard  to  the  duties  of  his  position  were 
that  a  lawyer  ought  to  study  the  psychological  significance 
of  crime  in  order  to  depict  the  diseases  of  society,  and  he 
intended  to  live  up  to  his  principles. 

"  You  have  before  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  a  fin  de 
silcle  crime,  if  I  may  so  describe  it,  a  crime  possessing 
the  specific  features  of  that  melancholy  corruption  to 
which  those  elements  of  our  society  which  are  subjected  to 
the  burning  rays  of  this  process,  are  particularly  ex 
posed " 

He  spoke  at  length,  trying  to  remember  all  the  clever 
things  he  had  in  his  mind,  and  principally  trying  never  to 
pause  and  still  to  prolong  his  argument  for  an  hour  and 


RESURRECTION  91 

a  quarter.  He  stopped  only  once,  and  for  some  time 
stood  clearing  his  throat;  then,  taking  up  the  thread  of 
his  discourse,  he  made  amends  for  this  brief  pause  by  re 
doubled  eloquence.  Sometimes  he  spoke  in  mellow  and 
insinuating  tones,  balancing  himself  first  on  one  foot, 
then  on  the  other,  looking  now  at  the  jury,  now  at  his 
notebook;  then  all  of  a  sudden,  turning  from  the  jury  to 
his  audience,  his  voice  would  ring  out  in  prophetic 
accents.  But  he  never  once  glanced  at  the  prisoners, 
every  one  of  whom  gazed  steadily  at  him. 

His  argument  was  a  medley  of  all  the  fads  current  in  his 
set,  in  short  the  so-called  last  word  of  scientific  wisdom. 
He  talked  of  heredity  and  of  innate  criminality,  of  Lom- 
broso  and  Tarde,  of  evolution,  of  the  struggle  for  existence, 
of  hypnotism  and  hypnotic  suggestion,  of  Charcot  and 
degeneration. 

Merchant  Smelkof,  according  to  the  definition  of  the 
Assistant  Prosecutor,  was  the  original  type  of  a  Russian, 
physically  vigorous,  generous  to  a  fault,  and  whose  very 
generosity  had  made  him  an  .easy  prey  for  those  various 
and  depraved  creatures  into  whose  hands  he  had  chanced 
to  fall.  Simon  Kartinkin  was  the  atavistic  product  of 
serfdom,  timorous,  illiterate,  and  unprincipled,  —  he  had 
not  even  religion !  Evfe'mia  was  his  mistress  and  a  victim 
of  heredity.  She  showed  every  symptom  of  degeneration. 
But  the  chief  instigator  of  this  crime  was  Maslova,  her 
self  an  example  of  the  very  lowest  type  of  degeneracy. 
"This  woman,"  he  went  on,  without  looking  at  her,  "has 
been  educated;  we  have  just  heard  the  testimony  of  her 
mistress.  Not  only  can  she  read  and  write,  but  she  is 
familiar  with  French.  She  is  an  orphan,  and  doubtless 
the  germs  of  criminality  are  in  her  nature.  Brought  up  in 
a  cultivated  family  of  the  nobility,  she  might  have  led  an 
honest,  self-supporting  life;  but  she  forsook  her  benefac 
tors,  and  in  order  to  gratify  her  passion,  entered  a  public 
house,  where  she  was  the  most  intelligent  among  the  women 
of  her  class,  and  as  you  gentlemen  of  the  jury  have  just 


92  RESURRECTION 

been  told  by  her  mistress,  she  has  the  power  of  winning  an 
influence  over  the  visitors  by  that  mysterious  faculty 
recently  investigated  by  the  scientific  and  medical  world 
—  Charcot  was  one  of  its  famous  expositors  —  known  as 
hypnotic  suggestion.  It  was  by  the  aid  of  this  faculty  that 
she  gained  control  over  that  Russian  giant,  that  kind,  con 
fiding  Sadko,  the  wealthy  visitor,  using  her  power  without 
mercy,  first  to  steal  his  money  and  then  to  take  his  life." 

"He  is  talking  arrant  nonsense,"  said  the  Presiding 
Justice,  smiling  and  bending  towards  the  serious  Member. 

"A  consummate  blockhead!"  said  the  serious  Member. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,"  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  con 
tinued,  gracefully  swaying  his  body  from  side  to  side, 
"  the  fate  of  these  criminals  lies  in  your  hands;  but  it  is  also 
in  your  power  to  control  the  fate  of  society,  which  will  feel 
the  effect  of  your  verdict.  You  will  consider  the  nature 
of  this  crime,  the  social  menace  of  such  pathological  in 
dividuals  as  Mdslova,  and  you  will  strive  to  guard  it  from 
contagion,  no  less  than  from  positive  destruction." 

And  as  though  overcome  by  the  importance  of  the  ver 
dict  about  to  be  rendered,  the  Assistant  Prosecutor,  evi 
dently  charmed  with  his  own  eloquence,  dropped  into  his 
chair.  The  gist  of  his  argument,  shorn  of  the  flowers  of 
rhetoric,  was  that  Maslova  hypnotized  the  merchant,  in 
sinuating  herself  in  his  confidence,  and  having  been  sent  to 
his  room  with  a  key  to  bring  back  certain  money,  sur 
prised  by  Simon  and  Evfemia,  she  was  forced  to  share  it 
with  them.  Then,  to  conceal  the  traces  of  her  crime,  she 
had  brought  the  merchant  back  to  the  hotel,  and  there 
poisoned  him. 

The  argument  of  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  was  followed 
by  that  of  a  middle-aged  lawyer  in  swallowtail  coat  and 
low-cut  waistcoat,  showing  a  semicircle  of  stiff  white 
shirt  bosom.  He  pleaded  the  cause  of  Kartfnkin  and 
Botchkova,  who  had  paid  him  three  hundred  roubles. 
He  spoke  with  assurance,  exonerating  both  of  them  and 
accusing  Mdslova  as  the  sole  criminal. 


RESURRECTION  93 

He  denied  the  assertion  of  Mdslova  that  Botchkdva  and 
Kartinkin  were  both  present  when  she  took  the  money,  in 
sisting  that  the  evidence  of  a  convicted  prisoner  could 
have  no  weight.  The  twenty-five  hundred  roubles,  said 
the  lawyer,  might  easily  have  been  accumulated  by  two 
honest  servants,  who  sometimes  received  from  three  to 
five  roubles  a  day  in  fees  from  guests.  The  merchant's 
money  had  been  stolen  by  Maslova  and  had  either  been 
transmitted  by  her  to  some  third  party  or  else  lost  while 
she  was  in  a  state  of  intoxication.  The  poisoning  was 
the  act  of  Maslova  alone. 

Therefore  he  asked  the  jury  to  acquit  Kartinkin  and 
Botchkdva  of  taking  the  money,  but  even  if  they  should 
find  them  guilty,  he  demanded  their  acquittal  of  all 
participation  with  deliberate  intent  in  the  poisoning 
affair. 

In  conclusion  and  by  way  of  making  a  point  against  the 
Assistant  Prosecutor,  he  remarked  that  those  brilliant  re 
marks  of  his  on  the  subject  of  heredity,  though  they  might 
be  true  in  general,  were  not  applicable  to -this  case,  as  no 
one  knew  who  Botchkova's  parents  were. 

The  Assistant  Prosecutor  at  once  betrayed  his  annoy 
ance  by  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders  accompanied  by  a  smile 
of  contemptuous  indifference,  and  immediately  began 
taking  notes. 

Then  Mdslova's  advocate  rose  and  with  an  air  of  em 
barrassment  and  stumbling  over  his  words  began  to  speak 
in  her  defense.  Without  denying  that  she  had  taken  part 
in  the  theft,  he  insisted  that  she  had  no  intention  of 
poisoning  Smelkdf.  But  when  he  undertook  to  be  elo 
quent  and  began  to  describe  Maslova's  youth,  how  she  had 
been  ruined  by  a  man  who  had  gone  unpunished,  whereas 
she  had  to  bear  the  consequence  of  her  sin,  this  excursion 
into  the  domain  of  psychology  was  anything  but  success 
ful,  and  served  only  to  make  everybody  feel  ashamed  of 
him.  While  he  was  hesitating  and  mumbling  some 
thing  about  the  cruelty  of  men  and  the  helplessness  of 


94  RESURRECTION 

women,  the  Presiding  Justice,  wishing  to  help  him  out, 
advised  him  to  adhere  more  closely  to  the  facts  of  the 
case. 

When  he  ceased  speaking  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  rose, 
and  took  up  the  cudgels  in  defense  of  heredity  against  the 
attorney  who  had  spoken  first  on  the  side  of  the  defense. 
He  began  by  saying  that  even  though  Botchk6va  happened 
to  be  the  child  of  unknown  parents,  it  would  not  invali 
date  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  of  heredity.  Science  has 
established  the  law  of  heredity  on  so  firm  a  basis  that  we 
can  not  only  deduct  crime  from  heredity,  but  heredity  from 
crime.  As  to  the  hypothesis  of  the  defense,  that  Maslova 
had  been  ruined  by  some  supposititious  seducer, — he 
pronounced  the  word  "supposititious"  with  sarcastic 
emphasis,  —  the  facts  rather  tended  to  prove  that  it  was 
she  who  had  been  the  temptress  and  that  many  a  victim 
had  suffered  at  her  hands.  And  after  these  remarks  he 
took  his  seat  in  triumph. 

Then  the  prisoners  were  permitted  to  speak  in  their 
own  defense. 

Evfdmia  Botchkdva  repeated  that  she  knew  nothing 
whatever  about  it,  and  had  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the 
affair,  and  insisted  that  Maslova  was  the  only  culprit. 
Simon  only  repeated  several  times: 

"Do  as  you  please,  but  I  am  innocent." 

Maslova  said  nothing.  When  the  Presiding  Justice 
told  her  she  might  speak  in  her  own  defense  she  gave  one 
look  at  him,  then  threw  a  hasty  glance  around  the  room 
like  a  hunted  animal  at  bay,  lowered  her  eyes  and  burst 
into  tears,  sobbing  aloud. 

"  What's  the  matter  ?"  said  the  merchant  who  sat  beside 
Nekhliidof.  He  heard  him  utter  a  strange  sound,  like 
a  stifled  sob. 

Nekhliidof  did  not  even  yet  realize  the  full  significance 
of  his  present  position  and  attributed  the  sobs  he  could 
hardly  repress  and  the  tears  that  came  to  his  eyes,  to  the 
weakness  of  his  nerves.  He  put  on  his  pince-nez  to  con- 


RESURRECTION  95 

ceal  his  tears,  then  pulled  out  his  handkerchief  and  blew 
his  nose. 

The  fear  of  the  disgrace  which  would  befall  him  if  all 
these  people  knew  what  he  had  done  overpowered  the 
remorse  that  was  struggling  in  his  soul,  for  at  this  stage 
of  the  affair  selfish  fear  was  his  strongest  emotion. 

XXII. 

AFTER  the  last  words  of  the  prisoners,  the  arguments 
on  both  sides  as  to  the  form  of  putting  the  questions  to  the 
jury  lasted  some  little  time;  but  finally  these  questions 
were  formulated  and  the  Presiding  Justice  began  to  sum 
up  the  case.  Before  stating  the  case  to  the  jury,  he  ex 
plained  to  them  in  a  familiar  tone  of  voice,  that  burglary 
was  burglary  and  that  theft  was  theft,  and  that  theft  from 
a  room  that  was  locked,  was  theft  from  a  room  that  was 
locked,  and  that  theft  from  an  open  room,  was  theft  from 
an  open  room.  While  he  was  offering  these  explanations 
he  looked  repeatedly  at  Nekhludof,  as  though  endeavor 
ing  to  impress  him  with  the  importance  of  this  informa 
tion,  hoping  that  if  he  understood,  he  would  explain  it  all 
to  his  fellow- jury  men.  Then,  when  he  thought  that 
the  jury  was  sufficiently  impressed  with  these  truths,  he 
proceeded  to  elucidate  another  truth,  namely  that  murder 
is  a  deed  which  aims  at  the  death  of  a  fellow-creature, 
and  that  poisoning  is  murder.  When  this  truth  also 
had,  in  his  opinion,  been  sufficiently  apprehended  by 
the  jury,  he  explained  that  if  the  crimes  of  theft  and 
murder  were  committed  simultaneously,  this  combination 
of  crimes  would  be  theft  and  murder. 

But  though  anxious  to  get  away  to  his  appointment, 
he  had  become  so  completely  the  slave  of  routine,  that 
having  once  started  on  his  charge  he  could  not  stop  him 
self;  so  he  explained  to  the  jury  in  detail  that  if  they 
found  the  prisoners  guilty,  they  had  a  right  to  say  so,  and 
if  they  found  them  not  guilty  they  had  the  right  to  say 


96  RESURRECTION 

that  also.  If  they  found  them  guilty  of  one  crime  and  in 
nocent  of  the  other,  they  could  declare  them  guilty  of  one 
and  innocent  of  the  other.  Next  he  explained  that 
though  this  privilege  was  granted  to  them,  they  should  use 
it  with  discretion.  He  was  also  about  to  explain  that  if 
they  made  an  affirmative  answer  to  a  question  they  should 
agree  to  everything  the  question  includes,  and  that  if  they 
did  not  agree  to  everything  the  question  includes,  then 
they  must  state  to  which  part  they  did  not  agree;  but 
glancing  at  his  watch  and  seeing  that  it  was  five  minutes 
before  three,  he  decided  to  begin  the  final  charge. 

"The  circumstances  of  the  case  are  as  follows:"  and 
then  he  repeated  all  that  had  been  previously  stated  by  the 
defense,  the  Assistant  Prosecutor,  and  the  witnesses. 

While  the  Presiding  Justice  was  speaking,  the  Associate 
Members,  although  they  listened  to  him  with  an  air  of 
profound  attention,  looked  now  and  then  at  their  watches, 
and  although  approving  of  what  he  said,  that  is  to  say, 
believing  his  charge  to  be  the  correct  thing,  they  thought 
it  somewhat  lengthy.  This  was  in  fact  the  consensus  of 
opinion  from  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  to  the  last  member 
of  the  bar,  not  to  mention  the  other  listeners  in  the  court 
room.  At  last  the  Presiding  Justice  had  finished  the 
summing  up. 

It  seemed  as  if  there  could  be  nothing  more  to  say,  and 
yet,  so  pleased  was  he  with  the  inspiring  tones  of  his  own 
voice,  that  he  was  reluctant  to  stop,  and  so  found  it  neces 
sary  to  add  a  few  words  concerning  the  importance  of 
that  right  which  had  been  granted  to  the  jury,  and  how 
they  should  beware  of  abusing  it;  he  reminded  them  that 
they  had  taken  an  oath,  and  that  they  were  the  conscience 
of  society,  and  that  the  secret  deliberations  of  the  jury- 
room  should  be  held  sacred,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 
From  the  moment  the  Presiding  Justice  began  to  speak, 
Mdslova  never  once  took  her  eyes  from  his  face,  she 
seemed  to  fear  lest  she  might  lose  a  word;  and  therefore 
Nekhludof,  set  free  from  his  dread  of  meeting  her  eyes, 


RESURRECTION  97 

gazed  at  her  intently.  And  there  passed  through  his 
mind  that  familiar  train  of  thought  wherein  the  first 
impression  is  of  the  outward  change  that  absence  brings 
upon  a  well-loved  but  long  unseen  face.  Gradually  the 
look  of  former  years  returns,  the  changes  disappear,  and 
before  our  spiritual  eye  rises  the  characteristic  expression 
of  the  unique  and  singular  spiritual  individuality. 

All  this  was  passing  through  Nekhludof's  mind. 

Neither  the  prison  cloak,  the  luxuriant  figure,  nor  the 
fulness  of  the  chin,  nor  the  wrinkles  on  the  forehead  and 
around  the  temples,  nor  the  swollen  eyelids,  could  dis 
guise  the  truth.  It  was  the  same  Katusha,  who  on  that 
Easter  morning  had  gazed  so  innocently  into  the  face  of 
the  man  she  loved,  with  her  tender,  laughing  eyes,  so  full 
of  joy  and  life. 

"And  what  a  strange  coincidence!  That  I  should  be 
on  the  jury  in  this  particular  case!  That  I,  who  have  not 
seen  her  for  ten  years,  should  find  her  in  the  prisoners' 
dock!  How  will  this  all  end?  If  it  would  only  end 
quickly!" 

He  had  not  yet  ceased  to  rebel  against  that  feeling  of 
repentance  that  had  risen  in  his  heart.  He  tried  to  think 
of  the  affair  as  a  coincidence,  which  would  pass  from  his 
memory  and  leave  no  trace  behind.  He  felt  like  a  puppy 
when  its  master  seizes  it  by  the  nape  of  the  neck  and  rubs 
its  nose  in  the  mess  it  has  made.  The  puppy  yelps  and 
tries  to  pull  away  as  far  as  possible  from  the  consequences 
of  its  misbehavior,  and  forget  about  it,  but  the  implacable 
master  will  not  let  it  go.  So  Nekhludof,  realizing  the 
baseness  of  what  he  had  done,  now  felt  the  weight  of  the 
Master's  hand,  and  yet  he  failed  to  comprehend  the  full 
significance  of  his  deed,  nor  could  he  recognize  the  Master. 
He  did  not  wish  to  believe  that  what  he  saw  was  the  result 
of  his  own  act.  But  the  inexorable  hand  held  him  there, 
and  he  felt  that  he  could  never  escape. 

Outwardly  he  still  preserved  an  air  of  indifference  as 
he  sat  there  in  the  second  chair  of  the  first  row  in  his  usual 
VOL.  i. — 7 


98  RESURRECTION 

attitude  of  careless  ease,  playing  with  his  pince-nez.  Yet 
his  heart  was  heavy  within  him,  not  only  because  his  own 
cruelty  had  grown  so  hateful  to  him,  but  the  vision  of  life 
in  general,  with  its  selfish  debauchery  and  baseness,  he 
could  hardly  endure  to  behold.  The  awful  veil  which  for 
twelve  years  had  hung  motionless  between  him  and  the 
consequences  of  his  crime,  was  beginning  to  waver,  and 
now  and  again  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  what  was  hidden 
behind  it. 


XXIII. 

HAVING  finished  his  charge,  the  Presiding  Justice  grace 
fully  lifted  the  paper  containing  the  list  of  questions  and 
handed  it  to  the  foreman.  The  jurymen,  glad  of  an 
opportunity  to  rest,  rose  rather  awkwardly  and  started  in 
a  shame-faced  sort  of  way  for  the  jury -room.  As  soon  as 
the  door  had  closed  behind  them,  a  gendarme  approached 
it,  and  drawing  his  saber  from  its  scabbard  he  held  it 
against  his  shoulder  and  took  his  post  by  the  door. 

The  Judges  left  the  room  to  stretch  their  legs  a  bit,  and 
the  prisoners  were  also  led  away.  Of  course  the  first 
thing  the  jurymen  did  was  to  light  their  cigarettes  and 
begin  to  smoke,  and  presently  the  feeling  of  constraint 
caused  by  their  false  position  in  the  court-room  wore  off, 
and  as  they  smoked  a  sense  of  relief  took  its  place,  and 
they  began  a  lively  discussion. 

"That  girl  is  innocent;  she  didn't  know  what  she  was 
about,"  said  the  kind-hearted  merchant;  "  we  must  let  her 
down  easy." 

"That's  what  we  are  going  to  talk  about,"  said  the  fore 
man.  "We  must  not  be  guided  by  impulse." 

"That  was  a  good  charge  the  Presiding  Justice  made!" 
said  the  colonel. 

"  You  call  it  good,  do  you  ?     It  almost  put  me  to  sleep !" 

"It  is  plain  enough  to  see  that  the  servants  could  not 


RESURRECTION  99 

have  known  about  the  money,  unless  they  had  heard 
about  it  from  Maslova,"  said  the  clerk  of  Jewish  birth. 

"Then  you  believe  that  she  stole  the  money?" 

"You  can  never  make  me  believe  it!"  exclaimed  the 
kind-hearted  merchant.  "I'm  sure  it's  all  the  work  of 
that  red-eyed  demon  I" 

"They  are  a  bad  lot!"  said  the  colonel. 

"She  says  she  never  went  into  the  room." 

"  And  you  believe  her  ?  The  idea  of  believing  a  wretch 
like  that!" 

"You  may  or  may  not  believe  her,  but  that  doesn't 
alter  the  case,"  said  the  clerk. 

"  She  was  the  one  who  had  the  key." 

"What  of  that?"  retorted  the  merchant. 

"How  about  the  ring?" 

"She  told  us  how  it  happened;  the  merchant  was 
crazy  with  liquor;  he  gave  her  a  blow — and  then  of  course 
he  was  sorry.  'Here,'  says  he,  'don't  you  cry;  here's  a 
ring  for  you.'  Think  what  a  powerful  man  he  must  have 
been,  six  foot  five,  and  heavy  I  warrant  you!" 

"What  has  that  to  do  with  it?"  interrupted  Piotr 
Gherassimovitch;  "the  question  is:  was  she  the  chief 
conspirator,  or  did  the  servants  plan  the  crime?" 

"  The  servants  could  not  have  done  it  alone.  She  had 
the  keys." 

This  vague  sort  of  talk  went  on  for  some  time.  At  last 
the  foreman  took  a  stand:  "Gentlemen,  I  propose  that 
we  seat  ourselves  around  the  table  while  we  discuss  the 
matter."  So  saying  he  took  the  foreman's  chair. 

"Those  girls  are  a  bad  lot,"  said  the  clerk,  and  to  prove 
that  Mdslova  must  have  been  the  chief  culprit  he  told 
how  one  of  her  class  had  stolen  a  watch  from  a  friend  of 
his  on  the  boulevard. 

The  colonel  also  told  another  still  more  startling  story, 
of  the  theft  of  a  silver  samovar.  Here  the  foreman  called 
the  jury  to  order  by  rapping  the  table  with  his  pencil: 
"Now,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  "please  concentrate  your 


ioo  RESURRECTION 

attention  on  these  questions."     All  became  silent.     The 
questions  were  framed  as  follows : 

1.  Is  the  peasant  of  the  village  Borki,  in  the  district  of 
Krapivensk,  Simon  Petrov  Kartinkin,  thirty-three  years 
of  age,  guilty  of  having,  on  the  lyth  of  January,  188-, 
in  the  City  of  N ,  conspired  with  certain  other  per 
sons  with  the  intent  to  rob  and  murder  merchant  Smelkdf 
by  giving  him  the  poisoned  cognac   which   caused  his 
death  and  of  having  stolen  from  him  about  twenty-five 
hundred  roubles  and  a  diamond  ring  ? 

2.  Is  the  mezchdnka  Evfemia  Botchkova,  forty-three 
years  of  age,  guilty  of  the  above-mentioned  crimes  ? 

3.  Is    the    mezchdnka    Katerina    Mikhailova  Mdslova 
guilty  of  the  crimes  described  in  the  first  question? 

4.  If  the  accused  Evfemia  Botchkova  is  not  guilty  of 
both  the  crimes  set  down  in  the  first  question,  then  is 
she  guilty  of  having,  while  employed  in  the  Hotel  Mavri- 
tania,  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  January,  188-,  in  the 
City  of  N ,  stolen  from  a  locked  valise  in  a  room  oc 
cupied  by  a  guest  in  said  hotel,  the  merchant  Smelk6f, 
the  sum  of  twenty-five  hundred  roubles,  for  which  purpose 
she  unlocked  the  valise  with  a  key  which  she  had  brought, 
and  fitted  to  the  lock  ? 

The  foreman  read  the  first  question.  "Well,  gentle 
men,  what  do  you  say  ?" 

This  question  was  quickly  answered;  all  had  agreed  to 
say  "Guilty,"  believing  that  Simon  had  assisted  in  the 
poisoning  as  well  as  in  the  theft, — all  except  an  old 
artelschik,1  who  voted  for  acquittal. 

The  foreman  thought  that  he  must  be  laboring  under 
some  error  and  proceeded  to  explain  that  there  could  be 
no  reason  for  doubting  the  guilt  of  Kartinkin:  but  the 
arttlsckik  was  not  to  be  persuaded;  he  only  said,  "Nevet 
mind,  it's  better  to  be  merciful."  "We  are  no  saints, 
ourselves,"  he  added,  and  held  to  his  opinion. 

1  A  man  who  belongs  to  an  art*/,  or  an  association  of  workmen  whose  mem 
bers  share  profits  and  losses.  —  TR. 


RESURRECTION  101 

The  second  question  in  regard  to  Botchkdva  was  an 
swered  after  much  talk  and  discussion  by  "Not  guilty," 
simply  because — and  this  was  the  point  her  counsel  made 
— there  was  no  unequivocal  proof  of  her  share  in  the 
poisoning. 

The  merchant  in  his  eagerness  to  acquit  Maslova  in 
sisted  that  Botchkova  was  the  chief  instigator.  Many  of 
the  jury  agreed  with  him,  but  the  foreman,  wishing  to 
keep  within  the  limits  of  the  law,  said  that  there  were  no 
grounds  for  considering  her  an  accomplice  in  the  poison 
ing. 

After  much  disputing,  the  opinion  of  the  foreman  won 
the  day. 

To  the  fourth  question  concerning  Botchkova  the  an 
swer  was  "Guilty,"  but  in  deference  to  the  artelschik  the 
clause  "Recommended  to  mercy"  was  added.  A  fierce 
dispute  sprang  up  over  the  question  concerning  Mdslova. 

The  foreman  insisted  that  she  was  guilty  of  both  the 
poisoning  and  the  burglary,  but  the  merchant  would  not 
agree  with  him,  and  the  colonel,  the  clerk,  and  the  artel 
schik  sided  with  the  latter.  For  a  while  the  others  seemed 
to  be  wavering,  but  at  last  the  opinion  of  the  foreman 
began  to  gain  ground.  In  fact  the  jurymen  were  so  tired 
they  were  ready  to  join  the  side  that  promised  the  more 
speedy  decision.  Anything  for  a  release. 

Not  only  from  his  former  knowledge  of  Maslova,  but 
from  all  that  had  passed  during  the  trial,  Nekhludof  felt 
sure  that  she  was  innocent  both  of  the  robbery  and  of  the 
poisoning.  At  first  he  was  confident  that  all  the  jurymen 
would  take  this  view  of  the  matter,  but  when  he  saw  how 
the  merchant's  awkward  defense  of  Maslova  based  on  his 
personal  fancy  for  the  girl,  which  he  took  no  pains  to  con 
ceal,  had  aroused  the  opposition  of  the  foreman,  and  how 
fatigue  was  making  every  juryman  so  eager  for  a  decision 
that  he  was  ready  to  say  "Guilty"  and  have  it  over,  it 
seemed  to  him  that  he  ought  to  speak  in  her  defense. 
Still  he  dared  not  venture.  He  had  a  horrible  dread  lest 


102  RESURRECTION 

his  former  relations  with  her  might  be  discovered.  And 
yet  how  could  he  leave  the  affair  as  it  lay  ?  Come  what 
might,  he  must  offer  his  objection. 

With  the  color  alternately  flushing  and  paling  in  his 
face,  he  was  just  opening  his  lips  to  speak,  when  Piotr 
Gherdssimovitch,  who  had  been  silent  up  to  that  moment, 
evidently  exasperated  by  the  arrogant  manner  of  the  fore 
man,  began  suddenly  to  argue  with  him  and  said  in  so 
many  words  precisely  what  Nekhludof  was  about  to 
say. 

"One  moment,  please,"  he  began.  "You  argue  that 
because  she  had  the  key,  she  must  have  committed  the 
theft.  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  those  servants  couldn't 
have  unlocked  the  valise  with  a  false  key  after  she  was 
gone?" 

"Just  so,  just  so!"  approved  the  merchant. 

"  She  couldn't  have  taken  the  money,  because  situated 
as  she  was,  she  would  hardly  know  how  to  dispose  of  it." 

"That's  just  what  I  say,"  exclaimed  the  merchant. 
"  I've  no  doubt  that  her  visit  to  the  room  suggested  all  that 
business  to  the  servants;  they  improved  the  chance,  and 
then  tried  to  place  all  the  blame  on  her." 

Piotr  Gherassimovitch  was  in  a  thoroughly  irritable 
frame  of  mind,  and  his  mood  seemed  contagious.  The 
foreman  at  once  began  an  obstinate  defense  of  his  own 
views.  But  Piotr  Gherdssimovitch's  arguments  were  so 
convincing  that  the  majority  agreed  with  him  in  believing 
M£slova  had  taken  no  part  whatever  in  stealing  the 
money,  and  that  the  ring  had  been  given  to  her. 

When  they  discussed  her  complicity  in  the  poisoning 
affair,  her  ardent  champion,  the  merchant,  remarked  that 
she  ought  to  be  acquitted,  because  she  had  no  reason  for 
poisoning  Smelk6f.  To  which  the  foreman  replied  that 
it  was  impossible  to  acquit  her  of  that,  because  she  con 
fessed  that  she  had  given  the  powder. 

"Yes,  but  she  thought  it  was  opium." 

"  Opium  is  a  deadly  poison,  too,"  said  the  colonel,  who 


RESURRECTION  103 

was  fond  of  digressions,  and  who  straightway  began  a 
rambling  tale  of  how  his  brother-in-law's  wife  had  once 
taken  too  much  opium  and  would  certainly  have  died,  had 
there  not  been  a  doctor  near  by,  who  took  instant  meas 
ures  for  her  relief.  The  colonel  told  his  story  so  impres 
sively  and  with  such  dignity  that  no  one  had  the  courage 
to  interrupt  him.  Only  the  clerk,  encouraged  by  his 
example,  had  the  rudeness  to  break  in  with  a  little  tale  of 
his  own. 

"Some  people  get  so  used  to  it,  they  can  take  forty 
drops  at  a  time.  I  have  a  relative " 

But  the  colonel  would  tolerate  no  interruption;  he  went 
calmly  on  describing  the  effects  of  opium  on  his  brother- 
in-law's  wife. 

"  It  is  after  four,"  said  one  of  the  jurymen. 

"  Well,  gentlemen,  what  is  your  decision  ? "  asked  the 
foreman.  "Shall  we  consider  her  guilty  without  an 
intent  to  rob  and  without  the  intent  to  steal  the  property  ?" 

"Shall  we  say  that?" 

Piotr  Gherassimovitch,  pleased  with  his  victory,  as 
sented. 

"But  we  must  recommend  her  to  mercy,"  added  the 
merchant. 

All  agreed  to  this.  The  artelschik  was  the  only  man 
who  insisted  on  the  verdict  "Not  guilty." 

"That's  really  what  it  amounts  to,"  explained  the 
foreman.  "  Therefore  she  is  '  Not  guilty.' " 

"Write  that  down,  and  add  that  we  recommend  her 
to  mercy.  Surely  this  should  clear  her,"  cried  the  mer 
chant,  in  high  good  humor. 

They  were  so  worn  out  and  so  confused  by  all  these  dis 
cussions,  that  no  one  thought  of  adding  the  clause,  "but 
without  intent  to  kill." 

Nekhludof  was  so  agitated  that  he  overlooked  this 
omission;  hence  the  answers  were  drawn  up  in  that 
fashion  and  taken  to  the  court-room. 

Rabelais  tells  us  of  a  lawyer  who  was  trying  a  case  and 


io4  RESURRECTION 

who,  after  quoting  all  sorts  of  laws,  and  reading  some 
twenty  pages  of  unintelligible  Latin,  proposed  to  the  con 
tending  parties  to  throw  dice,  odds  or  even;  if  the  number 
were  even,  then  the  plaintiff  should  have  the  right  of  it, 
otherwise  the  defendant. 

This  was  a  similar  case.  That  particular  verdict  had 
been  rendered  not  because  all  were  agreed,  but  because, 
in  the  first  place,  the  Presiding  Justice,  in  spite  of  all  the 
time  he  had  consumed,  had  omitted  his  customary  direc 
tion  to  the  jury:  namely,  when  in  reply  to  a  question,  they 
answered  "  Guilty,"  they  had  the  privilege  of  adding 
"  but  without  intent  to  murder ' ' ;  secondly  because  the  colo 
nel  had  told  a  stupid,  long-winded  story  about  his  brother- 
in-law's  wife;  thirdly  because  Nekhludof  was  so  agitated 
that  he  did  not  notice  the  omission  of  the  proviso  "  without 
intent  to  murder,"  thinking  that  the  proviso  "  without 
premeditated  intent"  nullified  the  accusation;  fourthly  be 
cause  Piotr  Gherassimovitch  happened  to  have  left  the 
room  just  as  the  foreman  was  reading  over  the  questions 
and  replies;  and  lastly  because  everybody  was  tired,  and 
wanted  to  get  away  as  quickly  as  he  could  and  therefore 
thought  it  best  to  agree  to  any  decision  that  would  end 
matters  in  the  quickest  way. 

The  foreman  rang  the  bell.  The  gendarme,  who  with 
drawn  sword  in  hand  stood  near  the  door,  put  his  sword 
back  into  its  scabbard  and  moved  aside.  The  Judges 
took  their  seats,  and  the  jury  came  filing  in  one  after  an 
other. 

The  foreman  carrying  the  paper  with  suitable  solemnity 
presented  it  to  the  Presiding  Justice,  who  when  he  had 
perused  the  same,  flung  up  his  hand  in  surprise  and  turned 
to  consult  his  companions.  He  was  astonished  that  the 
jury,  having  put  in  the  first  proviso:  " without  intent  to 
rob,"  should  have  omitted  the  second:  "without  intent  to 
murder."  According  to  the  verdict  of  the  jury  Mdslova 
had  committed  neither  theft  nor  robbery,  but  she  had 
poisoned  a,  man  without  any  apparent  object. 


RESURRECTION  105 

"Just  look  at  this  absurd  verdict!"  he  said,  turning 
to  the  Member  on  his  left.  "  This  means  penal  servitude, 
and  the  woman  is  innocent." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  saying  she  is  innocent  ?  "  asked 
the  severe  Member. 

" Because  I  am  sure  she  is;  I  regard  this  as  a  case  for 
applying  Article  817  (Article  817  says  that  if  the  Court 
finds  the  decision  of  the  jury  unjust,  it  may  set  it  aside) . 

"What  is  your  opinion?"  asked  the  Presiding  Justice, 
turning  towards  the  kind-hearted  Member,  who  made  no 
immediate  reply.  He  glanced  at  the  number  on  a  paper 
before  him,  and  hastily  adding  the  figures  together  found 
that  he  couldn't  divide  them  by  three.  He  had  decided 
in  his  own  mind  if  those  numbers  were  divisible  by  three, 
he  would  agree  with  the  Presiding  Justice.  It  seemed  a 
pity  that  they  were  not;  but  he  was  too  kindly  to  dispute 
the  point,  so  he  agreed  just  the  same. 

"Well,  I  think  just  as  you  do,"  he  said. 

"And  you?"  said  the  Presiding  Justice,  turning  to  the 
irritable  Member. 

"  On  no  account,"  he  replied  decidedly.  "The  news 
papers  are  forever  repeating  that  the  juries  acquit  crim 
inals;  what  would  they  say  if  the  Court  did  the  same 
thing  ?  I  would  not  consent  to  it  on  any  account." 

The  Presiding  Justice  looked  at  his  watch. 

"  Well,  I  am  sorry,"  he  said;  "  then  nothing  more  can  be 
done,"  and  he  handed  the  questions  to  the  foreman  to 
read  aloud.  Every  one  rose,  and  the  foreman,  shifting 
his  weight  from  one  foot  to  the  other  and  clearing  his 
throat,  read  the  questions  and  answers.  The  whole 
Court,  secretaries,  lawyers,  even  the  Prosecutor  himself, 
expressed  surprise. 

The  criminals  sat  perfectly  still;  they  didn't  seem  to 
understand  what  the  answers  meant. 

When  all  were  again  seated,  the  Presiding  Justice 
asked  the  Prosecutor  to  announce  the  punishments  which 
were  to  be  inflicted  upon  the  condemned. 


106  RESURRECTION 

The  Prosecutor,  elated  over  his  unexpected  success  in 
obtaining  M&slova's  conviction,  and  naturally  ascribing  it 
to  his  own  eloquence,  after  consulting  the  Penal  Code 
said,  half  rising  in  his  seat: 

"Simon  Kartinkin  should  be  dealt  with  according  to 
Statute  1452  and  Section  4  of  1453;  Evfe*mia  Botchkdva 
according  to  Statute  1659,  and  Katerma  Maslova  ac 
cording  to  Statute  1454." 

These  punishments  were  the  most  severe  that  the  law 
allowed. 

"The  Court  will  adjourn  to  pronounce  upon  the  sen 
tence,"  said  the  Presiding  Justice,  rising. 

Every  one  followed  his  example,  and  with  that  air  of 
relief  that  springs  from  a  duty  fulfilled,  began  to  leave 
the  hall  or  walk  about. 

"I  say,  my  dear  fellow,  we  made  a  bad  blunder  there," 
said  Piotr  Ghera"  ssimovitch,  coming  up  to  Nekhliidof,  who 
was  listening  to  the  foreman's  explanation  of  some  matter. 
"  Do  you  realize  that  we've  sent  her  to  penal  servitude  ?" 

"What's  that?"  exclaimed  Nekhliidof,  utterly  regard 
less  of  the  teacher's  familiarity. 

"  Certainly !"  he  replied.  "  We  ought  to  have  given  the 
answer  *  Guilty,  but  without  intent  to  murder,'  and  we 
didn't.  The  Secretary  has  just  told  me  that  the  Prosecu 
tor  is  sentencing  her  to  fifteen  years'  penal  servitude." 

"But  that's  what  was  decided,"  said  the  foreman. 

Then  Piotr  Gherassimovitch  began  to  dispute  this,  say 
ing  that  as  she  had  not  taken  the  money,  it  was  the  natural 
inference  that  she  had  no  idea  of  committing  the  murder. 

"I  read  the  answers  to  you  before  we  left  the  room," 
said  the  foreman,  trying  to  defend  himself,  "and  not  one 
of  you  said  a  word  against  them." 

"I  was  not  in  the  room  at  that  moment;  but  I  can't 
imagine  how  you  could  have  let  it  pass,"  said  Piotr 
Gher&ssimovitch,  looking  at  Nekhliidof. 

"I  never  thought — "  said  Nekhliidof. 

"It's  evident  you  didn't!" 


RESURRECTION  107 

"  But  we  can  make  it  right,"  said  Nekhliidof. 

"Too  late  for  that  now." 

Nekhliidof  looked  at  the  prisoners.  They,  whose  fate 
would  in  another  moment  be  decided,  sat  as  motionless  as 
ever  behind  the  railing,  and  Maslova  was  smiling.  And 
now  a  base  emotion  took  possession  of  Nekhliidof's  soul. 
Thus  far,  he  had  been  anticipating  her  acquittal,  and 
supposing  she  was  not  likely  to  leave  the  city,  he  had  not 
made  up  his  mind  how  he  should  act  towards  her.  He 
had  been  in  a  critical  position;  but  the  prospect  of  Siberia 
and  penal  servitude  settled  at  once  the  question  of  their 
future  relations.  The  wounded  bird  would  cease  to 
struggle  in  his  game-bag  and  remind  him  of  its  existence. 

XXIV. 

THE  assumption  of  Piotr  Gherdssimovitch  proved  true. 
On  his  return  from  the  counsel  room,  the  Presiding 
Justice  proceeded  to  read: 

"On  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  April,  188-,  in  com 
pliance  with  the  ukase  of  His  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Cir 
cuit  Criminal  Court  of  N ,  by  virtue  of  the  verdict 

of  the  jury,  in  accordance  with  the  first  three  Sections  of 
Statute  771  and  the  first  three  Sections  of  Statute  776  and 
777  of  the  Penal  Code,  decrees  that  the  peasant  Simon 
Kartmkin,  thirty-three  years  of  age,  and  the  mezchdnka 
Katerina  Maslova,  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  be  deprived 
of  all  special  and  personal  rights  and  sentenced  to  hard 
labor:  Kartinkin  for  eight  and  Mdslova  for  four  years,  in 
accordance  with  Statute  twenty-five  of  said  Code.  The 
mezchdnka  Evfe'mia  Botchk6va,  forty-three  years  of  age, 
after  being  first  deprived  of  all  special  and  personal  rights 
and  privileges,  is  to  be  imprisoned  for  the  term  of  three 
years,  in  accordance  with  Statute  forty-eight  of  said  Penal 
Code.  The  costs  of  the  case  shall  be  evenly  divided 
among  the  prisoners,  and  in  the  event  of  their  inability  to 
pay  the  same  will  be  defrayed  by  the  Treasury. 


io8  RESURRECTION 

"  Articles  of  material  evidence  to  be  sold,  the  ring  to  be 
returned,  the  phials  to  be  destroyed." 

Kartinkin  stood  with  hands  pressed  against  his  sides 
and  fingers  bent  upwards;  his  lips  twitched.  Botchkdva 
was  apparently  undisturbed.  But  Maslova  on  hearing 
the  sentence  blushed  scarlet. 

"I  am  not  guilty,  not  guilty,"  she  suddenly  exclaimed 
in  a  loud  voice.  "This  is  wicked.  I  am  not  guilty:  I 
never  dreamed  nor  thought  of  such  a  thing.  I  speak  the 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth!"  And  dropping  down 
on  the  bench,  she  sobbed  aloud. 

When  Kartinkin  and  Botchkova  had  left  the  room  she 
still  sat  weeping,  so  that  the  gendarme  was  forced  to  touch 
the  sleeve  of  her  prison  cloak. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  let  this  thing  go  on,"  said  Nekhliidof 
to  himself,  utterly  forgetting  his  bad  thoughts;  and  hardly 
conscious  of  what  he  was  doing,  he  hurried  out  into  the 
corridor  to  catch  another  glimpse  of  her. 

A  lively  throng  of  people,  jurymen  and  lawyers,  pleased 
to  have  dispatched  the  case,  were  crowding  in  the  door 
way,  so  that  he  was  detained  for  several  moments.  But 
when  at  last  he  reached  the  corridor  she  was  already  some 
distance  ahead  of  him.  With  a  quick  step,  paying  no 
heed  to  the  attention  he  was  attracting,  he  overtook  her, 
walked  on  a  little  way  and  stood  still.  Although  she  had 
stopped  crying,  and  was  wiping  her  flushed  face  with  the 
end  of  her  kerchief,  she  still  drew  her  breath  in  convulsive 
sobs.  She  passed  by  without  glancing  towards  him. 
After  she  was  gone  he  turned  hurriedly  back  to  meet  the 
Presiding  Justice.  The  latter  had  already  left  the  hall, 
but  Nekhludof  caught  him  in  the  cloak-room. 

"  Judge,"  he  said,  going  up  to  him  just  as  he  was  putting 
on  his  light  overcoat  and  taking  his  silver-headed  cane 
from  the  hands  of  the  door-keeper.  "  May  I  have  a  word 
with  you  about  the  case  which  was  decided  just  now  ?  I 
am  one  of  the  jurors." 

"Certainly!    Prince  Nekhludof,  I  believe?     I  shall  be 


THE  GENDARME  WAS  FORCED  TO  TOUCH  THE  SLEEVE  OF 
HER  PRISON  CLOAK" 


RESURRECTION  109 

most  happy.  I  think  we  have  met  before,"  said  the 
Presiding  Justice,  shaking  hands  with  him.  He  recalled 
with  satisfaction  the  good  time  he  had  had  on  that  partic 
ular  occasion.  He  had  not  forgotten  the  evening  when 
he  had  met  Nekhludof,  and  had  danced  better  than  all  the 
young  men.  "What  can  I  do  for  you?" 

"There  has  been  a  misunderstanding  in  regard  to 
Maslova.  She  is  innocent  so  far  as  the  poisoning  is  con 
cerned,  and  yet  she  has  been  condemned  to  penal  servi 
tude,"  he  went  on,  speaking  with  a  preoccupied  air. 

"The  Court  rendered  its  decision  in  accordance  with 
the  answers  which  you  brought  in,"  said  the  Presiding 
Justice,  walking  towards  the  entrance;  "although  these 
answers  did  seem  inconsistent  with  the  case." 

He  now  remembered  that  he  had  intended  to  explain 
to  the  jury  that  to  answer  "guilty"  and  omit  to  add 
"without  the  intent  to  murder,"  means  guilty  of  inten 
tional  murder,  but  being  in  a  hurry,  he  had  forgotten  to  do 
this. 

"  Yes,  but  is  there  no  remedy  for  it  ?" 

"  A  reason  for  appeal  can  always  be  found.  You  will 
have  to  consult  a  lawyer,"  replied  the  Presiding  Justice, 
putting  on  his  hat  a  little  to  one  side  and  continuing  to 
move  towards  the  entrance. 

"But  this  is  terrible!" 

"  Yes;  but  you  see  in  Maslova's  case  there  were  just  two 
alternatives,"  replied  the  Presiding  Justice.  He  evidently 
wished  to  impress  Nekhludof  with  his  amiability,  and  so, 
after  achieving  a  satisfactory  arrangement  of  whiskers 
and  coat  collar,  he  placed  his  hand  under  Nekhludof's 
elbow,  remarking  as  he  turned  again  in  the  direction  of  the 
entrance,  "You  are  going  also?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Nekhludof,  and  hastily  putting  on  his  over 
coat  he  went  out  into  the  street  with  him.  Here  they 
stood  in  the  bright  sunlight  and  had  to  raise  their  voices  to 
be  heard  above  the  din  of  wheels  rattling  over  the  pave 
ment.  "It  is  a  curious  situation,"  the  Presiding  Justice 


no  RESURRECTION 

went  on,  raising  his  voice.  "  M£slova  had  two  chances 
before  her:  either  a  complete  acquittal,  or  what  would 
amount  to  the  same  thing,  a  nominal  term  of  imprison 
ment, —  from  which  the  days  of  her  preliminary  con 
finement  would  be  deducted,  —  or  penal  servitude.  There 
were  no  ira  media.  If  you  had  only  added  the  words: 
'without  the  intent  to  murder,'  she  would  have  been 
acquitted." 

"It  was  an  unpardonable  omission  on  my  part,"  re 
plied  Nekhludof. 

"That's  where  the  trouble  lies." 

Only  three  quarters  of  an  hour  remained  of  the  last 
hour  named  by  Clara. 

"  I  should  advise  you  to  consult  a  lawyer.  He  will  find 
you  a  cause  for  appeal.  There  will  be  no  trouble  about 
that.  To  the  Dvorianskaya !  Thirty  copecks.  I  never 
pay  more,"  he  added,  turning  to  the  izvostchik. 

"This  way,  your  Excellency!" 

"  Good  day !  If  I  can  be  of  any  use  to  you,  my  address 
is  Dvorianskaya,  House  of  Dvdrnikof;  that's  easily 
remembered."  And  with  a  friendly  bow  he  drove  off. 


XXV. 

THE  talk  with  the  Presiding  Justice  and  the  fresh  out- 
of-door  air  had  a  calming  effect  on  Nekhludof  s  nerves. 
He  began  to  think  that  perhaps  his  feelings  had  been  ex 
aggerated  by  the  influence  of  a  morning  spent  in  unac 
customed  mental  excitement;  it  had  been  such  a  wonder 
ful  coincidence !  He  must  do  everything  in  his  power  to 
alleviate  her  fate  and  lose  no  time  about  it.  Yes,  he  must 
act  at  once.  The  first  step  was  to  find  out  right  here  in 
the  Court  the  address  of  Fanarin  or  Mikishin,  two  well- 
known  lawyers  whose  names  were  familiar  to  him. 

He  returned  to  the  Court  House,  took  off  his  overcoat, 
and  went  up-stairs.  In  the  first  corrider  he  met  Fanarin; 


RESURRECTION  in 

he  stopped  him  and  asked  if  he  might  consult  him  on  a 
matter  of  business.  Fanarin,  who  knew  Nekhludof  by 
sight,  said  that  he  would  be  very  glad  if  he  could  be  of  any 
use  to  him. 

"I  am  rather  tired  just  now,  but  if  you  could  state  the 
matter  in  a  few  words,  I  am  at  your  service.  Will  you 
come  in  this  way?"  said  Fandrin,  meaning  the  Judges* 
Lobby.  They  seated  themselves  near  a  table.  "Now, 
if  you  will  kindly  state  your  case " 

Nekhludof  began  at  once.  "In  the  first  place  I  shall 
have  to  ask  you  to  regard  what  I  am  about  to  say  as 
strictly  confidential.  I  should  be  sorry  to  have  it  known 
that  I  take  any  personal  interest  in  this  affair." 

"That  goes  without  saying.     Go  on,  please " 

"I  was  on  the  jury  to-day,  when  we  condemned  an 
innocent  woman  to  penal  servitude.  I  am  troubled  about 
it."  Nekhludof  was  annoyed  to  find  himself  blushing 
and  hesitating  over  his  words. 

Fandrin  shot  one  swift  glance  at  him,  lowered  his  eyes 
again,  and  sat  listening.  "Well?"  he  said. 

"We  have  condemned  an  innocent  woman,  and  I 
should  like  to  carry  the  case  to  the  higher  Court." 

"You  mean  to  the  Senate,"  said  Fandrin,  correcting 
him. 

"And  I  should  be  glad  if  you  will  take  the  case." 

Nekhludof,  in  haste  to  get  over  the  worst  of  it,  went  on 
hurriedly,  the  color  again  rising  to  his  face. 

"The  fees  and  other  expenses  of  the  case,  whatever 
they  may  be,  will  be  charged  to  me." 

"  Oh,  we  shall  settle  that  later,"  replied  Fandrin,  smil 
ing  condescendingly  at  Nekhludof  s  inexperience. 

"Now  what  are  the  facts  of  the  case?" 

Nekhludof  told  the  story. 

"Very  well;  I  will  take  the  papers  and  will  look  them 
over  to-morrow.  After  to-morrow,  or  perhaps  we  had 
better  say  Thursday,  if  you  will  come  to  my  house  at 
six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  I  will  give  you  an  answer. 


ii2  RESURRECTION 

And  now  if  you  will  excuse  me,  I  have  to  make  some 
investigations  here." 

Nekhludof  bade  him  good  day,  and  went  out. 

The  talk  with  the  lawyer  and  the  consciousness  of  hav 
ing  already  taken  steps  towards  Maslova's  defense,  relieved 
his  mind.  He  went  out  into  the  courtyard.  The  weather 
was  fine,  and  he  joyfully  drew  in  a  deep  breath  of  the 
sweet  spring  air.  The  izvdstchiks  vainly  proffered  their 
services.  He  chose  to  walk.  His  brain  was  in  a  whirl, 
thinking  of  Katusha  and  the  way  he  had  treated  her;  he 
felt  sad  and  everything  looked  gloomy.  "Well,  there 
will  be  plenty  of  time  to  think  it  over;  now  I  must  try  to 
dispel  these  disagreeable  impressions,"  he  said  to  himself, 
and  glancing  at  his  watch  he  remembered  the  Korchagins' 
dinner.  It  was  not  too  late,  and  he  could  get  there  in 
time.  The  ring  of  a  passing  tram-car  caught  his  ear. 
He  ran  after  it  and  jumped  on.  When  he  reached  the 
square,  he  jumped  off  and  hailed  an  izvtistchik,  who  drove 
so  rapidly  that  in  ten  minutes  he  was  halting  in  front  of 
the  Korchagins'  stately  mansion. 

XXVI. 

"WALK  in,  your  Excellency!  You  are  expected,"  said 
the  portly,  pleasant-faced  door-keeper.  The  heavy  oaken 
door  swung  noiselessly  on  its  English  hinges.  "They  are 
at  dinner,  but  I  had  orders  to  ask  you  in." 

The  door-keeper  went  up  to  the  stairs  and  rang  the  bell. 

"Any  strangers  ?"  asked  Nekhludof,  taking  off  his  over 
coat. 

"  Only  Mr.  K61ossof  and  Michael  Sergueyevitch  besides 
the  family,"  replied  the  door-keeper. 

A  handsome  valet,  in  swallowtail  and  white  gloves, 
came  out,  looked  over  the  balusters,  and  said: 

"Please  come  up;  your  Excellency  is  expected." 

Nekhludof  mounted  the  stairs  and,  passing  a  lofty  and 
richly  furnished  ball-room,  entered  the  dining-room.  All 


RESURRECTION  113 

the  family,  with  the  exception  of  the  Princess-mother, 
S6phya  Vassilievna,  who  never  left  her  private  rooms, 
were  seated  at  the  dinner-table.  The  aged  Prince  Kor 
chagin  sat  at  the  head  of  the  table  with  the  doctor  on  his 
left  and  Iv&n  Ivdnovitch  K61ossof,  formerly  Marshal  of 
Nobility,  now  a  Bank  Director,  a  colleague  of  Korchagin 
and  a  Liberal,  on  his  right.  Beyond  him,  on  the  left,  sat 
Miss  Reder,  the  governess  of  Missy's  little  sister,  with  the 
four-year-old  child  herself;  opposite  them  on  the  right 
was  Missy's  brother  Petya,  Korchagin's  only  son,  a  school 
boy  of  the  Sixth  Form  of  the  public  school.  The  entire 
family  were  staying  in  town  on  his  account,  waiting  for 
his  examinations  to  be  over.  Next  came  the  University 
student  who  was  tutoring  him;  and  on  the  left  again 
Katerina  Alekse'yevna,  a  maiden  lady  of  forty,  a  rabid 
Slavophile;  opposite  her  sat  Michael  Sergueyevitch, 
familiarly  called  Misha  Teleguin,  Missy's  cousin,  and  at 
the  foot  of  the  table  Missy  herselt  There  was  one  vacant 
seat  beside  her. 

"That's  good!  Sit  down,  we  are  still  at  the  fish,"  said 
Korchagin,  carefully  working  his  false  teeth  and  looking 
Up  at  Nekhliidof  with  his  bloodshot  eyes,  without  visible 
lids. 

"Stepa"n!"  he  called  to  the  stately  butler — his  mouth 
still  full  of  food  and  indicating  with  his  eyes  the  vacant 
seat.  Although  Nekhliidof  knew  him  intimately  and  had 
often  seen  him  at  the  dinner- table,  to-day  his  red  face 
with  its  sensual  mouth,  the  napkin  tucked  under  his  chin, 
the  apoplectic  neck,  and  the  corpulent,  overfed,  and  yet 
soldierly  figure  of  the  old  General  struck  him  very  un 
pleasantly. 

Nekhliidof 's  mind  involuntarily  reverted  to  what  he  had 
heard  concerning  the  cruelty  of  this  man,  who  during  his 
term  of  service  as  Governor  of  several  provinces,  had  had 
men  flogged  and  hanged  for  no  earthly  reason  but  pure 
deviltry.  His  object  could  not  have  been  to  curry  favor, 
for  he  already  possessed  all  that  high  birth,  wealth,  and 

VOL.    I. — 8 


ii4  RESURRECTION 

influence  could  bestow.  "  Immediately,  your  Excellency, 
said  Stepan,  who  was  in  the  act  of  taking  a  ladle  from  the 
silver-laden  sideboard.  He  made  a  sign  to  the  handsome 
footman,  who  at  once  busied  himself  with  the  cover  next 
to  Missy's,  rearranging  the  spoon  and  fork  and  the 
starched  napkin,  ingeniously  folded  so  as  to  show  the 
coat  of  arms. 

Nekhludof  went  the  rounds,  shaking  hands.  All  rose 
as  they  greeted  him,  except  Korchagin  and  the  ladies; 
and  this  hand-shaking  with  people  to  whom  he  had  hardly 
spoken  a  word  in  his  life  struck  him  to-day  as  a  rather 
senseless  and  absurd  proceeding.  He  apologized  for  being 
late  and  was  about  to  take  the  empty  seat  between  Missy 
and  Katerina  Alekseyevna,  when  the  old  Prince  insisted 
that  if  he  wouldn't  take  a  glass  of  v6dka,  he  must  take  an 
appetizer  from  the  side-table,  on  which  stood  the  lobster, 
the  caviare,  the  cheeses,  and  the  salted  herrings.  Nekhlu 
dof  had  not  realized  how  hungry  he  was,  but  after  the  first 
bite  of  the  bread  and  cheese  he  went  on  eating,  almost 
ravenously. 

"Well,  have  you  undermined  the  foundations?"  said 
Kolossof,  derisively  quoting  the  words  of  a  Conservative 
paper,  which  had  inveighed  against  the  trial  by  jury.  "I 
suppose  you  have  been  acquitting  the  guilty  and  con 
demning  the  innocent,  isn't  that  so?" 

"Undermined  the  foundations, — undermined  the  foun 
dations, — "  repeated  the  Prince,  chuckling;  he  had  un 
bounded  admiration  for  the  wit  and  learning  of  his  Liberal 
friend  and  colleague. 

At  the  risk  of  seeming  discourteous,  Nekhludof  made  no 
reply  to  K61ossof  and  sat  down  to  his  steaming  soup. 

"  Let  him  eat  in  peace,"  said  Missy,  smiling.  She  used 
the  pronoun  "him"  intentionally  as  one  way  of  implying 
the  intimacy  of  their  relations. 

Meanwhile  Kdlossof ,  in  a  lively  tone  of  voice  and  with 
remarkable  fluency,  was  giving  the  sum  and  substance  of 
the  article  against  trial  by  jury  which  had  roused  his 


RESURRECTION  115 

indignation.  Korchagin's  nephew,  Michael  Sergue*ye- 
vitch,  agreed  with  him,  and  repeated  the  substance  of  an 
other  article  from  the  same  paper. 

Missy,  dressed  with  her  usual  elegance,  was  looking 
quite  distinguee. 

"You  must  be  terribly  tired  and  hungry,"  she  said  to 
Nekhludof,  after  letting  him  finish  his  soup. 

"  No,  not  particularly.  And  you  ?  Did  you  go  to  see 
the  paintings?"  he  asked. 

"No,  we  put  it  off.  We  went  to  play  tennis  at  the 
Salama'tofs'.  Mr.  Crooks  does  play  wonderfully  well." 

Nekhludof  had  come  here  to  be  entertained;  generally 
he  amused  himself  in  this  house,  partly  because  its  air  of 
cultivation  and  luxury  appealed  to  his  taste,  and  partly 
because  he  was  very  susceptible  to  the  implied  flattery  and 
deference  which  always  surrounded  him.  But  to-day 
everything  he  saw  jarred  on  him,  from  the  door-keeper, 
the  broad,  luxurious  staircase,  the  flowers,  the  footman, 
the  table  appointments,  up  to  Missy  herself.  Even  Missy 
seemed  artificial  and  unattractive  to-day.  K61ossof 's  self- 
satisfied  tone  of  make-believe  liberalism,  the  innate  vul 
garity  of  his  talk,  Korchagin's  thick-set  neck  and  sensuous 
face,  the  French  phrases  of  the  Slavophile  lady  Katerma 
Alekseyevna,  the  constrained  faces  of  the  governess  and 
the  University  student,  and  above  all  that  pronoun  "him," 
which  referred  to  him,  from  Missy's  lips,  —  all  this  was 
very  annoying.  He  had  never  yet  decided  about  Missy; 
sometimes  he  saw  her  dimly  as  if  by  moonlight, — pure, 
lovely,  innocent,  and  good;  then  he  would  see  nothing  but 
the  beautiful.  Then  again,  as  if  the  bright  sun  shone 
on  her,  he  saw  her  imperfections.  To-day,  for  instance, 
he  saw  every  tiny  wrinkle  on  her  face,  how  her  hair  was 
puffed,  the  sharpness  of  her  elbows,  and  the  size  of  her 
broad  thumbnail,  so  exactly  like  her  father's. 

"I  call  it  deadly  dull,"  said  Kolossof, — he  was  speak 
ing  of  lawn  tennis;  "we  had  ever  so  much  more  fun  play 
ing  lapta,  when  we  were  young." 


n6  RESURRECTION 

"  Oh,  but  you  haven't  tried  it.  It's  awfully  exciting," 
said  Missy.  Nekhludof  thought  that  drawling  emphasis 
on  "  awfully"  was  just  affectation. 

Then  a  discussion  was  started  in  which  Michael 
Sergue*yevitch  and  Katerina  Alekse*yevna  took  part. 
Only  the  tutor,  the  governess,  and  the  children  sat  silent 
and  very  much  bored. 

"Oh,  these  interminable  disputes!"  exclaimed  Prince 
Korchdgin,  with  a  loud  laugh,  and  removing  the  napkin 
from  his  waistcoat  he  rose  noisily  from  the  table,  pushing 
back  his  chair,  which  was  at  once  set  aside  by  the  footman. 
The  others  followed  his  example;  they  all  went  up  to  a 
side-table  on  which  bowls  rilled  with  scented  water  were 
standing,  and  while  they  were  rinsing  their  mouths,  con 
tinued  the  same  rapid  conversation. 

"Don't  you  think  so?"  said  Missy  to  Nekhludof,  ap 
pealing  to  him  for  confirmation  of  her  statement  that  noth 
ing  betrays  a  person's  disposition  more  quickly  than  a 
game.  But  in  his  face  she  saw  that  look  of  disapproval 
which  she  always  dreaded;  she  was  puzzled  to  guess  what 
could  have  aroused  it. 

"I  really  couldn't  say.  I  have  never  given  the  subject 
a  thought,"  he  said  in  reply  to  her  question. 

"  Shall  we  go  to  mamma  ?"  she  asked. 

"  Certainly,  if  you  wish  it,"  he  replied,  as  he  drew  out  a 
cigarette;  but  his  tone  was  too  eloquent  to  be  mistaken 
that  it  was  not  by  his  wish  that  they  were  going  to 
mamma. 

She  looked  at  him  without  speaking,  but  her  glance 
made  him  ashamed  of  himself.  "  Why  should  I  go  about 
making  people  uncomfortable?"  he  said  to  himself,  and 
then  with  an  attempt  to  be  more  amiable  he  declared  that 
it  would  give  him  much  pleasure  if  the  Princess  would  re 
ceive  him. 

"  Certainly,  mamma  will  be  very  glad.  She  will  permit 
you  to  smoke,  and  Iva"n  Iv£novitch  is  there  also." 

The  mistress  of  this  house,  Princess  S6phya  Vassilievna, 


RESURRECTION  117 

was  a  chronic  invalid  who  for  eight  years  had  been  visible 
to  her  friends  only  in  a  reclining  position,  draped  in  silks 
and  velvets  with  many  furbelows  of  lace  and  ribbon  and 
surrounded  by  various  objects  of  bronze,  gilt,  lacquer, 
ivory,  and  flowers.  She  never  went  out,  and  received 
only  her  "  particular  friends,"  that  is  to  say,  those  indi 
viduals  whom  she  regarded  as  superior  persons.  Nekhlu- 
dof  was  thus  distinguished  for  several  reasons:  he  was 
considered  clever,  his  mother  had  been  an  intimate  friend 
of  the  family  — and  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  Missy  were 
to  marry  him. 

Princess  Sophya  Vassilievna's  room  was  beyond  the  large 
and  small  drawing-rooms.  When  she  reached  the  large 
drawing-room,  Missy,  who  was  walking  ahead,  paused 
resolutely  and  resting  her  hand  on  the  back  of  a  gilt  chair 
gazed  steadily  at  Nekhliidof. 

If  Missy  was  anxious  to  marry  Nekhludof  because  he 
was  considered  a  desirable  match,  it  didn't  follow  that  she 
had  no  regard  for  him,  and  she  had  also  grown  accustomed 
to  the  thought  that  he  was  going  to  be  hers, — not  she 
his, — and  now  with  the  unintelligent  but  persistent 
cunning  which  has  often  been  observed  in  the  insane,  she 
began  to  work  her  way  towards  the  object  in  view.  First 
she  must  persuade  him  to  tell  her  what  was  the 
matter. 

"Something  has  happened  to  you,"  she  said.  "Tell 
me  what  it  is." 

The  meeting  in  Court  came  into  his  mind,  and  he  drew 
his  brows  together  in  a  frown  and  changed  color,  as  he 
replied,  impelled  by  an  impulse  of  candor: 

"Yes,  something  has  happened.  Something  wholly 
unexpected  and  very  serious." 

"  But  can  you  not  tell  me  what  it  is  ?" 

"  Not  now.  You  must  pardon  my  silence,  —  for  I  have 
not  yet  had  time  to  think  it  over,  myself,"  he  said,  blushing 
still  more  deeply. 

"Then  you  refuse  to  tell  me?"  she  asked.     Her  face 


n8  RESURRECTION 

quivered,  and  she  pushed  away  the  chair  she  had  been 
holding. 

"  Yes.  It  is  impossible,"  he  replied,  conscious  that  this 
answer  embodied  his  own  conviction  of  the  vital  im 
portance  of  what  had  happened  to  him. 

"Come,  then!" 

She  shook  her  head  as  if  worried  by  the  buzzing  of  vex 
atious  thoughts,  and  went  on  with  a  quickened  step.  It 
seemed  to  him  as  if  she  were  pressing  her  lips  together  to 
hold  back  her  tears.  He  felt  sorry  and  ashamed  too;  he 
couldn't  bear  to  hurt  her  feelings,  but  he  knew  that  if  he 
showed  the  slightest  sign  of  weakness,  it  would  mean 
defeat  for  him,  and  he  had  no  intention  of  committing 
himself.  To-day  he  feared  this  more  than  anything  else, 
and  so  he  followed  her  in  silence  to  the  door  of  the  Prin 
cess's  cabinet. 

XXVII. 

PRINCESS  SOPHYA  VASsfuEVNA  had  just  finished  her 
elaborate  and  hearty  dinner.  She  took  her  meals  in 
private  so  that  no  one  should  see  her  performing  a  function 
so  very  commonplace.  A  small  table  drawn  up  beside 
the  couch  held  her  coffee,  while  she  smoked  a  pachitos. 
Princess  S6phya  Vassilievna  was  a  tall,  slender  brunette, 
with  large  black  eyes,  prominent  teeth,  and  a  weakness 
for  appearing  younger  than  she  really  was. 

Though  rumors  had  been  circulated,  more  or  less,  con 
cerning  her  intimacy  with  the  doctor,  yet  until  to-day 
Nekhludof  had  never  admitted  such  a  suspicion  even  to 
himself;  but  when  he  saw  the  doctor  seated  beside  her, 
with  his  oily  shining  beard  parted  in  the  middle,  a  feeling 
of  disgust  came  over  him. 

In  a  luxurious  low  easy-chair  near  Sdphya  Vassilievna 
sat  K61ossof  stirring  his  coffee.  A  glass  of  cordial  stood 
on  the  table  beside  him. 

Missy  came  in  with  Nekhludof,  but  she  did  not  stay. 


RESURRECTION  119 

"  When  mamma  gets  tired  of  you  and  sends  you  off,  you 
may  come  to  me,"  she  said,  speaking  to  Nekhliidof  and 
Kdlossof  in  an  easy,  familiar  tone  of  voice,  that  betrayed 
no  sign  of  the  recent  annoyance.  Her  light  footfall  on 
the  soft  carpet  was  quite  inaudible,  as  with  a  merry  smile 
she  left  the  room. 

"  How  are  you,  my  friend  ?  Sit  down  and  tell  us  all 
about  it,"  said  Princess  Sophya  Vassilievna,  her  studied 
smile  displaying  large,  white  teeth,  a  perfect  imitation  of 
those  with  which  nature  had  formerly  endowed  her. 
"They  tell  me  that  you  came  from  Court  very  much  de 
pressed.  It  must  be  an  ordeal  for  a  man  with  a  heart," 
she  remarked  in  French. 

"It  is  indeed,"  replied  Nekhliidof.  "It  makes  one 
often  feel  his  own  .  .  .  one  feels  that  one  has  no  right 
to  judge." 

"Comme  c'est  vrail  ..."  she  exclaimed,  as  though 
struck  by  the  truth  of  his  observation.  That  was  one  of 
her  pet  methods  of  flattery.  "  And  how  are  you  progress 
ing  with  your  picture  ?  I  am  immensely  interested  in  it, 
and  were  it  not  for  my  poor  health,  I  certainly  should 
have  come  to  see  it,  long  ago." 

"  Oh,  I  have  given  that  up,"  replied  Nekhludof,  drily. 
Her  flattery  was  as  transparent  to  him  to-day  as  was  the 
little  fiction  about  her  age,  which  she  tried  so  hard  to 
conceal.  He  could  hardly  treat  her  with  ordinary  courtesy. 

"Oh,  how  could  you  do  it!  And  Repin  told  me," 
she  said,  turning  to  Kdlossof,  "that  he  had  so  much 
talent!  It  does  seem  a  pity!" 

"How  can  she  lie  so?"  thought  Nekhludof,  frowning. 
When  Nekhliidof's  mood  became  too  unmistakably 
gloomy  to  be  ignored,  Sdphya  Vassilievna,  seeing  that  any 
attempt  to  draw  him  into  a  witty  and  agreeable  conversa 
tion  proved  a  failure,  asked  K61ossof  what  he  thought  of 
the  new  drama,  in  a  tone  of  voice  that  said,  "  Any  opinion 
that  you  may  express  will  be  accepted  by  me  as  final,  for 
every  word  you  utter  is  worthy  of  being  immortalized." 


120  RESURRECTION 

Kdlossof  disapproved  of  the  drama,  and  availed  himself 
of  the  opportunity  to  air  his  views  on  art  in  general.  Prin 
cess  Sdphya  Vassilievna,  confused  between  her  admission 
of  the  justice  of  his  criticism  and  her  efforts  to  defend  the 
author,  all  in  one  breath,  tried  to  compromise,  but  finally 
surrendered.  Nekhludof  looked  on  and  seemed  to  be 
listening,  but  his  mind  paid  no  heed  to  what  was  going 
on  in  his  presence. 

And  as  he  sat  there  and  listened  to  the  voices  of  S6phya 
Vassilievna  and  Kdlossof,  it  gradually  dawned  upon  him 
that  neither  of  them  felt  any  interest  in  the  drama  or  in 
each  other,  and  that  if  they  talked,  it  was  only  to  satisfy 
the  physiological  obligation  of  exercising  the  muscles  of 
the  throat  and  tongue  after  eating;  and  also  that  Kdlossof, 
having  drunk  vodka,  wine,  and  cordial,  was  somewhat 
tipsy, — not  tipsy  like  the  peasants  who  drink  seldom,  but 
like  men  with  whom  the  drinking  of  wine  has  become  a 
habit.  He  did  not  reel  about  nor  did  he  talk  any  nonsense, 
but  he  was  in  a  state  of  self-satisfied  excitement;  and  lastly 
that  Princess  Sdphya  Vassilievna,  even  during  the  con 
versation,  was  all  the  while  casting  uneasy  glances  at  the 
window,  through  which  a  slanting  sunbeam  was  moving 
towards  her,  a  traitor  which  might  shed  too  bright  a  light 
across  her  wrinkled  face. 

"How  true  it  is!"  she  said  in  reply  to  some  remark  of 
Kdlossof,  and  pressed  the  electric  button  by  her  side. 

The  doctor,  like  an  intimate  friend  of  the  house,  left  the 
room  without  speaking.  Sophya  Vassilievna  followed  him 
with  her  eyes  as  she  continued  the  conversation. 

"Please  lower  that  curtain,  Philip,"  she  said  with  a 
glance  at  the  window  hangings,  as  the  handsome  servant, 
in  answer  to  her  bell,  entered  the  room.  "No,  I  cannot 
agree  with  you,  I  shall  always  insist  that  he  has  a  great 
deal  of  mysticism,  and  poetry  cannot  exist  without  mysti 
cism,"  she  remarked,  one  of  her  black  eyes  angrily  follow 
ing  the  motions  of  the  man  who  was  adjusting  the  drapery. 
"Mysticism  without  poetry  is  superstition,  and  poetry 


PRINCESS   SOPHIA   VASILIEVNA 


RESURRECTION  121 

without  mysticism  becomes  prose,"  she  said  with  a  sad 
smile,  her  eyes  still  fixed  on  the  footman,  who  was  letting 
down  the  drapery.  "That  is  not  the  one  I  meant;  it's 
the  one  in  the  large  window,"  exclaimed  S6phya  Vassili- 
evna  in  the  aggrieved  tone  of  a  sufferer,  resentful  of  the 
dullness  that  compels  her  to  utter  the  words.  And  with 
her  jewel-bedecked  fingers  she  raised  her  fragrant 
pachitos  to  her  lips. 

The  muscular,  broad-chested,  and  handsome  Philip 
made  a  slight  inclination  of  the  head,  as  though  asking  her 
pardon;  then,  crossing  the  carpeted  floor  with  noiseless 
tread,  he  went  silently  and  obediently  to  the  other  window, 
and  without  taking  his  eyes  from  the  face  of  the  Princess 
began  to  draw  the  other  curtain,  so  that  no  ray  of  light 
could  possibly  fall  upon  her.  But  he  blundered  again, 
and  again  the  exhausted  Sophya  Vassilievna  was  obliged 
to  interrupt  her  conversation  upon  mysticism  to  direct 
that  idiotic  and  vexatious  Philip.  There  was  a  flash  in  his 
eye  just  for  one  instant.  " '  'Twould  puzzle  the  devil  him 
self  to  find  out  what  you  want,'  is  what  he  is  probably 
saying,"  thought  Nekhludof,  observing  the  by-play.  But 
that  handsome  and  athletic  Philip  brought  his  feelings 
instantly  under  control  and  quietly  went  on  doing  what  his 
helpless  and  artificial  specimen  of  a  mistress  commanded 
him. 

"Of  course  there  is  much  truth  in  Darwin's  theory," 
said  Kdlossof ,  lounging  in  a  low  chair  and  with  his  sleepy 
eyes  gazing  at  the  Princess.  "  But  he  exaggerates.  That's 
a  fact." 

"Do  you  believe  in  heredity?"  asked  the  Princess, 
addressing  Nekhludof;  she  felt  annoyed  by  his  silence. 

"In  heredity?"  he  repeated.  "No,  I  do  not."  His 
mind  was  filled  with  strange,  fantastic  images.  He  seemed 
to  see  the  superb  figure  of  the  footman  Philip  as  an 
artist's  model,  and  beside  him  K61ossof,  stripped  also  of 
his  garments,  with  his  stomach  like  a  melon,  his  bald 
head,  his  scrawny,  leashlike  arms  and  flabby  legs.  In  the 


122  RESURRECTION 

same  vision-like  way  he  imagined  the  real  S6phya  Vas- 
silievna  with  her  shoulders,  now  covered  with  silk  and 
velvet;  but  his  mental  picture  was  so  hideous  that  he 
made  haste  to  banish  it. 

Here  Sdphya  Vassilievna  favored  him  with  her  de  haul 
en  bas  glance. 

"  Missy  must  be  wondering  why  you  don't  appear,"  she 
said.  "You  had  better  go  to  her;  she  has  a  new  thing  of 
Grieg's  she  wants  to  play  for  you." 

"Missy  has  nothing  to  play  to  me;  it  would  be  interest 
ing  to  discover  why  this  woman  never  speaks  the  truth," 
thought  Nekhliidof ,  rising  to  clasp  the  transparent,  bony, 
and  be  jeweled  ringers  of  S6phya  Vassilievna. 

He  was  met  in  the  drawing-room  by  Katerina  Alek- 
se*yevna,  who  at  once  began: 

"The  duties  of  a  juryman  seem  to  depress  you!"  She 
always  spoke  in  French. 

"Forgive  me,  I  am  out  of  sorts  to-day  and  have  no  right 
to  be  here  depressing  other  people,"  answered  Nekhliidof. 

"Why  are  you  out  of  sorts?" 

"  I  must  ask  you  to  excuse  me  from  explaining,"  he  said, 
looking  for  his  hat. 

"Why  won't  you  tell?  Don't  you  remember  how  you 
used  to  tell  us  that  we  must  always  speak  the  truth,  and 
the  unpleasant  truths  you  told  us  in  those  days  ?  Didn't 
he?"  said  Katerina  Alekse*yevna,  turning  to  Missy,  who 
had  just  entered  the  room. 

"We  were  playing  a  game  then,"  replied  Nekhliidof, 
seriously.  "One  may  tell  the  truth  in  games.  But  in 
real  life  we  are  so  wicked, — I  mean  I  am  so  wicked,  that 
I  should  never  dare  to  tell  the  truth." 

"Oh,  don't  trouble  to  correct  yourself;  better  tell  us 
why  we  are  so  wicked,"  said  Katerina  Alekse*yevna,  in  a 
tone  still  bantering,  as  she  pretended  to  ignore  Nekhliidof  'a 
seriousness. 

"  There  is  nothing  so  foolish  as  to  acknowledge  that  one 
is  out  of  sorts,"  said  Missy.  "  I  never  admit  that  even  to 


RESURRECTION  123 

myself,  and  so  I  am  always  in  good  spirits.  Won't  you 
come  into  my  room  ?  We  will  try  to  dispel  your  mauvaise 
humeur." 

Nekhltidof  realized  how  a  horse  feels  when  it  is  being 
coaxed  into  its  bridle  and  harness.  Never  had  he  felt  less 
inclined  to  draw  his  load  than  to-day.  He  excused  him 
self,  saying  that  he  really  must  go  home,  and  began  to  say 
good-by.  Missy  retained  his  hand  longer  than  usual. 

"  Remember  that  what  is  of  importance  to  you,  is  also 
of  importance  to  your  friends.  Are  you  coming  to 
morrow?"  she  asked. 

"It's  doubtful,"  he  replied,  blushing,  hardly  knowing 
whether  he  felt  ashamed  for  himself  or  for  her,  and 
hurriedly  left. 

"What  does  all  this  mean?  Comme  cela  m'intrigue" 
said  Katerina  Alekseyevna.  "I  must  find  out.  Probably 
some  affaire  d}  amour  propre,  il  est  tres  susceptible,  notre 
cher  Mitya." 

"Plutot  une  affaire  d*  amour  sale"  Missy  was  about  to 
say,  but  she  refrained.  All  the  animation  that  had  lighted 
her  face  when  she  looked  at  him  had  vanished.  She  could 
not  utter  that  vulgar  little  pun  even  to  Katerina  Alek 
seyevna.  So  she  contented  herself  with  saying: 

"We  all  have  our  good  and  our  bad  days." 

"Can  it  be  possible  that  he  too  will  deceive  me?"  she 
thought.  "After  all  that  has  happened,  it  would  be  very 
cruel  of  him."  If  Missy  had  been  called  upon  to  explain 
what  she  understood  by  "after  all  that  has  happened," 
she  could  have  told  nothing  very  definite,  and  yet  she  felt 
sure  that  he  had  not  only  aroused  her  hopes,  but  had  al 
most  given  her  an  assurance.  It  was  not  so  much  the 
words,  as  the  smiles,  the  hints,  and  the  silences.  She  had 
considered  him  hers,  and  it  would  be  very  trying  to  lose 
him. 


124  RESURRECTION 


XXVIII. 

"I  AM  ashamed  and  disgusted  with  myself,"  thought 
Nekhludof  as  he  walked  home  through  the  familiar  streets. 
The  sense  of  depression  he  had  had  while  talking  with 
Missy  clung  to  him.  Still,  while  he  realized  that  she  had 
no  formal  claim  upon  him,  that  he  had  never  bound  him 
self  to  her  in  so  many  words,  had  never  made  a  formal 
proposal,  yet  the  fact  remained  that  he  did  feel  himself 
bound  to  her,  for  he  had  given  her  a  tacit  if  not  a  verbal 
promise.  To-day  his  whole  nature  rebelled  against  the 
thought  of  marrying  her.  "  I  am  ashamed  and  distressed," 
he  kept  repeating  to  himself,  thinking  not  only  of  his 
relations  with  Missy,  but  of  everything  else.  "I  am 
ashamed  and  disgusted  with  everything,"  he  kept  repeat 
ing,  as  he  stepped  into  the  porch  of  his  house. 

"You  may  go;  I  shall  not  want  any  supper,"  he  said 
to  Korne'y,  who  had  followed  him  into  the  dining-room, 
where  tea  and  cover  were  ready  for  him. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Korney  and  began  to  clear  off  the  table. 
Nekhludof  looked  at  Korne'y,  and  a  feeling  of  resentment 
arose  in  his  breast.  He  longed  to  be  alone;  and  it  seemed 
as  though  everybody  was  purposely  bothering  him. 
When  Korney  finally  carried  off  the  dishes,  Nekhludor 
was  about  to  go  to  the  samovar  to  make  the  tea,  but  hear 
ing  the  steps  of  Agraphena  Petrovna  he  hurriedly  re 
treated  into  the  drawing-room,  closing  the  door  after  him, 
to  avoid  seeing  her.  In  this  drawing-room  his  mother  had 
died  three  months  ago.  Now  it  was  lighted  by  two  tall 
lamps,  with  reflectors,  one  standing  near  his  father's  and 
the  other  near  his  mother's  portrait,  and  as  he  looked  at 
them  his  mind  reverted  to  his  relations  with  the  latter, 
which  now  seemed  both  revolting  and  unnatural.  He 
remembered  how,  during  her  last  illness,  he  had  really 
longed  for  her  death.  He  had  told  himself  that  he  longed 
for  it.  that  she  might  be  free  from  suffering,  when  all  he 


RESURRECTION  125 

really  wanted  was  to  escape  from  the  sight  of  her  suffering. 
Anxious  for  his  own  sake  to  recall  a  pleasing  memory  of  her, 
he  looked  at  her  portrait,  for  which  he  had  paid  five 
thousand  roubles.  It  was  the  work  of  a  famous  artist. 
She  was  painted  in  a  decolletee  black  velvet  gown. 
Evidently  the  artist  had  taken  great  pains  in  painting  the 
neck,  the  shadow  between  the  breasts,  and  the  dazzling 
shoulders.  This  was  thoroughly  repulsive  and  disgusting 
to  him  now.  There  was  something  so  repellent  and  blas 
phemous  in  that  picture  of  his  mother  painted  as  a  half- 
nude  beauty,  hanging  in  the  very  room  where  three  months 
ago  she  lay  emaciated  and  as  dry  as  a  mummy,  filling  the 
room  and  indeed  the  whole  house  with  a  heavy,  sickening 
odor,  which  nothing  could  overpower.  Even  now  he 
seemed  to  breathe  it,  and  he  remembered  how  the  day 
before  she  died  she  had  clasped  his  white,  strong  hand  in 
her  brown  and  bony  fingers,  and  looking  in  his  eyes  said, 
"  Don't  condemn  me,  Mitya,  if  I  have  done  wrong;" 
and  how  the  tears  came  into  those  eyes  now  dimmed  by 
suffering.  "How  shocking!"  he  repeated,  looking  at  the 
half-nude  woman  with  her  exquisite  marble  shoulders  and 
arms  and  her  triumphant  smile.  The  nude  shoulders 
reminded  him  of  another  young  woman  whom  he  had 
seen  not  long  ago  also  in  this  same  half-nude  state.  It 
was  Missy,  who  had  made  some  excuse  for  calling  him 
into  her  room  one  night  just  as  she  was  ready  to  start  for 
a  dance,  in  order  to  show  herself  in  a  ball  dress.  The 
recollection  of  her  beautiful  neck  and  arms  was  disgusting 
to  him  now  as  well  as  of  that  coarse,  vulgar  father  of  hers 
with  his  evil  past  and  his  cruelty,  and  of  her  mother,  who 
posed  as  a  bel-esprit  and  enjoyed  a  doubtful  reputation. 
All  these  memories  excited  unspeakable  disgust. 
"Shameful  and  horrible,  horrible  and  shameful!" 

"No,  I  must  surely  escape  from  all  these  false  relations 
with  the  Korchagins  and  Mary  a  Vassilievna,  give  up  my 
estate,  and  all  that  is  connected  with  it.  .  .  .  I  long  to 
breathe  freely.  ...  To  go  abroad  to  Rome,  perhaps, 


i26  RESURRECTION 

and  work  on  my  picture."  Then,  as  his  misgivings  about 
his  talent  for  painting  recurred  to  him,  "  Well,  to  breathe 
freely,  at  all  events.  First  to  Constantinople,  then  Rome." 
But  he  could  do  nothing  until  the  jury  business  and  his 
affair  with  the  lawyer  were  settled.  And  suddenly  with 
marvelous  distinctness,  the  image  of  the  prisoner  with  her 
black,  slightly  squinting  eyes  flashed  into  his  mind.  He 
had  not  forgotten  the  sound  of  her  sobbing  when  the  last 
words  were  spoken  to  the  condemned.  Hastily  extin 
guishing  the  remnant  of  one  cigarette  into  the  ash-tray 
and  lighting  another,  he  began  to  pace  up  and  down  the 
room.  And  the  minutes  he  had  spent  with  her  came  back 
and  lived  with  him  again.  He  remembered  his  last  inter 
view  with  her,  his  overmastering  passion,  and  the  speedy 
disillusion  that  followed.  He  remembered  the  white  dress 
and  blue  sash  and  the  early  mass. 

"I  really  loved  her  that  night  with  a  good  pure  love; 
indeed,  I  loved  her  before,  when  I  first  stayed  with  my 
aunts  and  was  writing  my  thesis !"  And  when  he  thought 
of  himself  as  he  had  been  then,  it  was  like  a  breeze  blow 
ing  from  the  land  of  youth  and  the  fulness  of  life,  and  he 
grew  unspeakably  sad. 

The  difference  between  what  he  had  been  then  and 
what  he  was  now,  was  immense;  as  great,  if  not  greater, 
than  the  difference  between  Katiisha  as  she  was  in  the 
church  that  day  and  the  prostitute  carousing  with  the 
merchant,  who  had  been  condemned  this  very  morning. 
Then  he  was  free,  fearing  nothing,  a  man  with  no  end  of 
possibilities  before  him;  whereas  now  he  felt  like  one 
entangled  in  the  meshes  of  a  vapid,  insignificant  and  pur 
poseless  life,  from  which  he  saw  no  way  of  escape,  and  he 
wasn't  really  sure  that  he  cared  to  find  one.  He  remem 
bered  how  proud  he  used  to  be  of  his  straightforwardness, 
how  he  had  made  it  a  rule  always  to  speak  the  truth,  and 
in  fact  he  was  a  truthful  man;  now  he  was  living  a  lie,  a 
fearful  lie,  and  every  one  who  knew  him  accepted  this  lie 
as  if  it  were  the  truth.  And  there  was  no  way  of  escape, 


RESURRECTION  127 

or  if  there  was,  he  didn't  know  how  to  find  it.  He  had 
been  so  long  in  the  mire  that  he  had  become  accustomed  te 
it  and  enjoyed  it. 

How  was  he  to  break  off  his  connection  with  Marya 
Vassilievna  and  with  her  husband,  and  be  once  more  able 
to  look  him  and  his  children  in  the  eyes  without  a  blush  ? 
How  disentangle  himself  from  Missy  without  a  lie  ?  How 
was  he  to  reconcile  two  opposing  duties,  the  responsibilities 
of  his  maternal  inheritance,  and  the  renunciation  of  that 
land  which  he  believed  it  unlawful  to  possess  ?  How  atone 
for  his  sin  against  Katiisha?  Something  more  must  be 
done  about  that  affair.  He  could  not  thus  abandon  a  wo 
man  whom  he  had  once  loved,  and  think  that  he  had  done 
enough  when  he  had  paid  the  lawyer  to  save  her  from  a 
sentence  she  had  not  deserved.  To  atone  for  his  fault  by 
the  payment  of  money  was  too  much  like  what  he  had 
done  years  ago  and  thought  so  fine. 

And  he  instinctively  remembered  the  minute  when,  hav 
ing  overtaken  her  in  the  corridor,  he  thrust  the  money  into 
her  frock  and  ran  away.  The  idea  of  giving  her  money ! 
He  remembered  how  disgusted  he  had  been  with  himself 
at  the  time,  and  the  same  feeling  came  over  him  again. 
"  What  atrocity!"  he  said  aloud.  "  Only  a  scoundrel  and 
a  knave  could  have  done  that.  And  I — I  was  the  man 
who  played  that  scoundrel's  part.  And  can  it  be  possible 
that  I  really  am  a  scoundrel?"  he  said,  pausing  in  his 
walk;  "I,  and  no  other?  And  this  is  not  my  sole  of 
fense,"  he  continued,  himself  his  own  accuser  and  his 
own  judge.  "  Isn't  my  relation  to  Mdrya  Vassilievna  and 
her  husband  a  base  and  cowardly  affair  ?  And  my  estate  ? 
Is  it  honest  to  use  the  wealth  my  mother  left  me,  when  I 
believe  hi  my  soul  that  it  is  unlawful  ?  And  what  of  all 
my  idle,  evil  life  ?  And  the  very  climax  of  all  my  wicked 
ness —  my  cruel  conduct  towards  Katusha?  A  scoun 
drel  and  a  knave,  indeed!  Men  may  judge  of  me  as  they 
like;  they  are  easily  deceived,  but  I  cannot  deceive  my 
self." 


128  RESURRECTION 

Then  suddenly  it  dawned  upon  him  that  the  disgust  he 
had  been  feeling  for  everything  and  everybody,  but 
particularly  for  the  Prince,  Marya  Vassilievna,  and  Missy, 
and  last  of  all,  poor  Korney,  was  really  disgust  for  himself. 
It  is  wonderful  that  the  recognition  of  one's  own  base 
ness  should  be  accompanied  by  a  sense  of  relief,  but 
strange  as  it  may  seem  Nekhludof  for  all  his  distress  did 
feel  comforted. 

More  than  once  in  his  life  had  he  gone  through  with 
what  he  called  "  the  cleansing  of  the  soul."  This  was  the 
name  he  gave  to  a  certain  mental  process  to  which  he  sub 
jected  himself,  when  after  a  certain  lapse  of  time,  recog 
nizing  the  sluggishness  and  even  the  normal  turpitude  of 
his  inner  life,  he  would  proceed  to  clear  away  the  rubbish 
which  encumbered  his  soul  and  hindered  all  proper  action. 

After  such  an  awakening  Nekhludof  would  make  rules 
which  he  always  intended  to  keep;  start  a  diary  and  begin 
a  new  life,  which  he  hoped  would  go  on  forever.  He 
called  that  turning  over  a  new  leaf.  But  time  after  time 
the  temptations  of  the  world  ensnared  him,  and  before 
he  knew  it,  he  had  fallen,  and  sometimes  even  lower  than 
before. 

Therefore  he  had  had  several  seasons  of  uprising  and 
purification.  He  was  passing  through  one  of  these  periods 
when  he  visited  his  aunts  for  the  first  time.  It  was  his 
most  intensely  enthusiastic  revival,  and  its  effects  lasted  a 
long  time.  Again,  when  he  gave  up  the  civil  service  and 
entered  the  army  during  war-time,  with  the  idea  of  sac 
rificing  his  life  for  his  country;  but  here  the  clogging  pro 
cess  soon  set  in.  Another  awakening  came  when  he  re 
signed  from  the  army  and  went  abroad  to  study  painting. 

From  that  day  to  this  there  had  been  no  moral  renovation 
whatever,  and  never  had  he  felt  in  greater  need  of  cleans 
ing.  He  was  horrified  at  the  chasm  that  yawned  between 
the  life  he  was  leading  and  the  demands  of  his  own  con 
science.  At  first  it  seemed  a  hopeless  case.  Such  con 
fusion  !  Such  rubbish !  Who  could  possibly  set  the  house 


RESURRECTION  129 

in  order  ?  "  Have  you  not  already  tried  to  be  a  better  man, 
and  what  did  it  amount  to  ?"  said  the  voice  of  the  tempter, 
speaking  in  his  soul.  "  Why  should  you  try  again  ?  You 
are  only  one  of  many;  such  is  life,"  whispered  the  voice. 
But  the  spiritual  nature  which  alone  is  genuine,  alone 
powerful,  alone  eternal,  had  already  awakened  in  Nekhlu- 
dof.  And  in  his  spiritual  nature  only  could  he  trust. 
However  vast  the  distance  between  what  he  was  and  what 
he  wished  to  be,  nothing  could  discourage  this  newly- 
awakened  spiritual  being. 

"Cost  what  it  may,  this  lie  that  binds  me  shall  be 
broken;  I  shall  tell  the  truth,  the  very  truth  before  them 
all,"  he  said  aloud,  and  determination  sounded  in  his 
voice.  "  I  shall  tell  the  truth  to  Missy,  she  shall  know  that 
I  am  a  profligate,  unfit  to  marry  her,  and  have  disturbed 
her  peace  for  nothing.  I  shall  tell  Marya  Vassilievna,  the 
Marshal's  wife,  but  no — the  better  way  would  be  to  tell 
her  husband  —  that  I  am  a  scoundrel  and  that  I  have 
deceived  him.  I  shall  so  dispose  of  the  estate  that  all  the 
world  may  know  my  reasons  and  acknowledge  their 
integrity.  I  shall  tell  Katusha  that  I  am  a  scoundrel,  that 
I  have  sinned  against  her  and  that  I  shall  do  all  in  my 
power  to  make  her  life  an  easy  one.  Yes,  I  will  see  her 
and  beg  her  pardon,  as  children  do." 

He  stopped.  "  I  will  marry  her,  if  I  must !"  He  folded 
his  hands  on  his  breast  as  he  used  to  do  when  he  was  a 
child,  raised  his  eyes,  and  said: 

"  Help  me,  O  Lord,  teach  me,  abide  in  me  and  deliver 
me  from  all  this  abomination!" 

He  prayed,  asking  the  Lord  to  enter  in  and  purify  him; 
and  lo,  while  he  was  thus  praying,  it  came  to  pass.  The 
Lord  was  really  dwelling  in  his  awakened  conscience. 
He  realized  his  own  nature  created  in  the  image  of  the 
Divine;  and  therefore  not  only  the  freedom,  courage,  and 
joy  of  life  became  his  own,  but  all  the  power  of  virtue  like 
wise.  The  best  a  man  may  do,  he  now  felt  himself  ca 
pable  of  doing. 
VOL.  i. — 9 


130  RESURRECTION 

The  tears  came  into  his  eyes  while  he  was  praying,  good 
tears  and  evil  tears;  good  tears  of  joy  at  the  awakening  of 
his  spiritual  nature,  all  these  years  buried  in  slumber,  and 
evil  tears  of  self-pity  and  admiration  of  his  own  virtue. 
He  was  warm.  He  went  to  the  window  that  looked  into 
the  garden  and  opened  it.  It  was  a  still  moonlight  night; 
the  air  was  fresh.  The  sound  of  a  passing  team  was  heard 
in  the  street,  then  silence  fell.  Directly  under  the  window 
the  shadow  of  a  tall  leafless  poplar  fell  across  the  walk,  the 
outline  of  its  branches  distinctly  denned  upon  the  gravel. 
On  the  left,  the  roof  of  the  carriage-house  seemed  white 
under  the  bright  moonlight;  through  the  black  interlacing 
branches  of  the  trees,  he  caught  glimpses  of  the  dark 
shadows  of  the  garden- wall.  Nekhludof  looked  at  the 
moonlit  garden,  at  the  roof,  and  at  the  shadows  of  the 
poplar  tree,  listened,  and  breathed  the  fresh,  invigorating 
air. 

"How  beautiful,  how  beautiful,  O  Lord,  how  beauti 
ful  !"  he  said,  but  he  meant  the  beauty  born  within  his  own 
soul. 

XXIX. 

IT  was  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  before  Maslova  reached 
her  cell.  Unaccustomed  to  walking,  she  felt  weary  and 
footsore.  She  must  have  traveled  fifteen  versts,  tramping 
over  those  stony  pavements;  moreover,  she  was  crushed 
by  the  severity  of  her  sentence  and  she  was  hungry. 

While  she  saw  guards  eating  their  bread  and  hard- 
boiled  eggs  during  the  recess,  her  mouth  watered;  she 
realized  that  she  was  hungry  too,  but  considered  it  beneath 
her  dignity  to  ask  them  to  give  her  a  bite.  But  when 
three  hours  had  gone  by,  hunger  departed,  and  faintness 
took  its  place.  It  was  then  she  heard  the  unexpected 
sentence.  At  first  she  thought  she  had  not  heard  aright; 
she  could  not  believe  her  own  ears,  nor  think  of  herself 
as  a  convict.  But  perceiving  the  quiet,  businesslike  faces 


RESURRECTION  131 

of  the  Judges  and  the  jury,  who  received  the  sentence  as  a 
matter  of  course,  she  rebelled  and  cried  aloud  that  she 
was  innocent.  Then,  seeing  that  even  her  exclamation 
was  taken  as  a  matter  of  course,  as  ^n  incident  of  no 
account,  she  burst  into  tears,  realizing  that  submission  to 
injustice  was  all  that  remained  to  her.  It  surprised  her, 
above  all  things,  to  be  thus  cruelly  condemned  by  men,  — 
mostly  young  men, — the  very  ones  in  whose  eyes  she  had 
seemed  to  find  favor.  The  Assistant  Prosecutor  was  the 
only  exception.  While  she  sat  in  the  waiting-room  before 
the  trial  and  during  the  recesses,  she  saw  how  these  men, 
under  the  pretext  of  an  errand,  would  pass  the  door,  or 
come  into  the  room  for  nothing  at  all  but  just  to  gaze  at 
her.  And  now  these  very  men  had  condemned  her  to 
hard  labor,  although  she  was  innocent  of  the  crime 
charged  against  her.  For  a  while  she  wept,  then  ceased 
and  sat  quietly,  waiting  to  be  sent  back.  She  only  wished 
she  could  smoke.  This  was  the  state  in  which  Botchkdva 
and  Kartinkin,  who  were  also  brought  into  the  same  room 
after  the  sentence,  found  her. 

"  So  you  didn't  get  clear  after  all,  did  you  ?  Of  course 
you're  not  going  to  get  off,  you  mean  hussy!  You've  just 
got  your  deserts!  You  will  have  to  give  up  your  style, 
now  that  you  are  sentenced  to  hard  labor,  I  can  tell  you 
that !"  Maslova  sat  motionless,  her  head  bowed,  her  hands 
hidden  in  the  sleeves  of  the  prison  cloak,  looking  steadily 
at  the  dirty  floor  in  front  of  her. 

"I  don't  interfere  with  you,  and  wish  you  wouldn't 
interfere  with  me,"  she  repeated  several  times;  then  re 
lapsed  into  silence.  It  was  only  when  Botchkdva  and 
Kartinkin  were  removed  and  the  guard  had  brought  her 
three  roubles,  that  she  brightened  up  a  little. 

"  Are  you  Mdslova  ?"  he  inquired.  "  Here  is  something 
a  lady  sent  you,"  he  said,  giving  her  the  money. 

" What  lady?" 

"How  should  I  know?  Here,  take  the  money,  and 
make  no  more  fuss  about  it." 


i32  RESURRECTION 

The  money  was  sent  by  Kit£eva.  When  she  was  about 
to  leave  the  court-room  she  asked  the  usher  if  she  would 
be  allowed  to  send  Maslova  some  money ;  and,  having  re 
ceived  permission  to  do  so,  she  took  off  her  three-buttoned 
glove,  put  her  plump,  white  hand  into  the  pocket  of  her 
silk  gown,  and  drew  out  a  fashionable  pocket-book. 
Opening  it,  she  selected,  from  a  large  number  of  freshly 
cut  coupons,  one  of  the  value  of  two  roubles  and  fifty 
copecks,  and  adding  a  few  silver  coins'  change,  she  handed 
it  to  the  usher.  A  guard  was  called,  to  whom  the  money 
was  entrusted  before  she  left  the  room. 

"Be  sure,  don't  fail  to  give  it  to  her,"  said  Carolina 
AlbeVtovna  Kitaeva.  It  was  this  implied  suspicion  of 
his  honesty  that  had  angered  the  guard  and  made  him 
cross  to  Maslova. 

Maslova  was  glad  to  have  the  money,  because  it  would 
procure  her  what  she  now  most  craved.  "If  I  could 
only  buy  some  cigarettes  and  get  a  smoke,"  she  thought; 
she  could  think  of  nothing  else  but  her  intense  longing 
for  a  smoke.  So  eager  was  she,  that  every  time  a  whiff  of 
tobacco  penetrated  through  the  doors  of  the  lobby  into  the 
corridor  she  would  inhale  it  greedily.  But  she  had  to 
wait  some  time.  The  Secretary,  whose  business  it  was 
to  give  the  order  for  her  return,  forgot  all  about  her,  so 
interested  was  he  in  a  discussion  with  one  of  the  lawyers 
about  some  article  which  had  been  forbidden  by  the 
censor.  At  last,  towards  five  o'clock,  she  was  allowed  to 
depart,  and  the  guards,  the  soldier  from  Nijni-N6vgorod 
and  the  Tchuvash,  took  her  out  through  the  back  entrance. 
Before  she  left  the  corridor  she  gave  one  of  them  twenty 
copecks  and  asked  him  to  buy  her  two  kalatchi1  and 
some  cigarettes.  The  Tchuvash  smiled  as  he  took  the 
money,  saying,  "All  right,  we'll  get  'em,"  and  did  in 
fact  buy  both  articles,  giving  her  back  the  right  change. 
But  they  couldn't  let  her  smoke  in  the  street,  so  she 
returned  to  the  prison  with  the  same  unsatisfied  craving. 

1  Bread  baked  in  a  fancy  shape.  —  T». 


RESURRECTION  133 

When  they  were  near  the  entrance,  about  a  hundred 
convicts  who  had  just  arrived  on  the  train  were  being 
brought  in.  She  encountered  them  in  the  passage.  All 
these  convicts,  young  men  and  old,  faces  bearded  and  faces 
half-shaved,  the  head  shaved  too,  sometimes  —  Russians 
and  foreigners,  came  along,  noisily  clanking  their  chains 
and  filling  the  passageway  with  dust  mingled  with  a 
strange  odor  of  perspiration.  As  they  passed  by,  they 
looked  at  her  and  some  of  them  went  up  and  took  hold  of 
her. 

" Here's  a  fine  wench!"  said  one. 

"My  respects  to  aunty,"  said  another,  winking. 

A  dark  man,  with  shaved  head  and  a  black  mustache, 
stumbled  over  his  rattling  chains  as  he  sprang  towards 
her  and  seized  her  in  his  arms. 

"  Don't  you  know  a  friend  when  you  see  him  ?  Come 
now,  none  of  your  airs!"  he  exclaimed,  grinning  and  his 
eyes  glittering,  when  she  pushed  him  away. 

"What  are  you  about,  you  scoundrel?"  cried  the 
warden's  assistant,  who  happened  to  catch  sight  of  him. 

The  fellow  cringed  and  beat  a  hasty  retreat.  Then  the 
assistant  turned  upon  Maslova.  "  What  are  you  doing 
here?"  he  said. 

She  attempted  to  say  that  she  had  just  been  brought 
back  from  the  Court  House,  but  was  so  tired  that  she 
could  not  make  the  exertion  to  speak. 

"  She  comes  from  the  Court  House,  your  Honor,"  said 
the  older  of  the  escort,  stepping  forward  with  his  hand 
up  to  his  vizor. 

"Then  why  don't  you  deliver  her  to  the  chief  warden 
and  put  a  stop  to  this  fooling!" 

"Yes,  your  Honor!" 

"  Sokoldf,  see  to  her!"  cried  the  assistant. 

The  chief  warden  went  up  to  Maslova  and  gave  her  an 
angry  push; then,  making  a  sign  for  her  to  follow  him,  he 
escorted  her  into  the  women's  ward. 

In  the  corridor  she  was  searched,  and  as  nothing  pro- 


134  RESURRECTION 

hibited  was  found  on  her  —  the  box  of  cigarettes  had  been 
cleverly  hidden  in  the  kaldtch — she  was  taken  back  to 
the  same  cell  she  had  left  in  the  morning. 

XXX. 

THE  cell  that  Mdslova  occupied  was  a  long  room,  nine 
archines l  by  seven,  with  two  windows,  a  big  stove,  from 
which  the  plastering  was  peeling  off,  and  wooden  bunks 
which  occupied  three-quarters  of  the  space.  In  the 
middle  of  the  room,  opposite  the  door,  hung  a  dark- 
colored  ikon  with  a  wax  taper  and  a  dusty  bunch  of  ever 
lasting  fastened  to  it.  Behind  the  door,  on  the  dark 
rotten  floor  to  the  left,  stood  a  vile-smelling  tub.  The  roll 
had  just  been  called  and  the  women  were  shut  in  for  the 
night. 

This  cell  was  occupied  by  fifteen  persons,  twelve  women 
and  three  children. 

It  was  still  quite  light  and  only  two  of  the  women 
occupied  the  bunks.  One  was  an  idiot  who  had  been 
imprisoned  because  she  had  no  passport;  she  spent  most 
of  the  time  sleeping,  with  the  prison  cloak  drawn  over  her 
head;  the  other,  a  consumptive,  was  serving  a  sentence 
for  theft.  The  latter  was  not  asleep  but  lay  with  wide- 
open  eyes,  the  prison  wrapper  tucked  under  her  head,  and 
doing  her  best  to  keep  from  coughing  when  the  phlegm 
rose  in  her  throat  and  choked  her.  The  rest  of  the 
women,  bareheaded  and  with  nothing  on  but  coarse, 
unbleached  linen  chemises,  either  sat  on  the  bunks  and 
sewed,  or  stood  idly  by  the  window  gazing  out  into  the 
yard  at  the  passing  convicts.  Of  the  three  women  who 
were  sewing,  one  was  the  same  old  woman,  Korabldva, 
who  had  seen  Maslova  off,  when  she  left  the  cell  in  the 
morning.  She  was  a  gloomy,  forbidding,  and  wrinkled 
old  creature,  tall  and  powerful,  with  a  baggy  chin,  a  hair 
mole  on  her  cheek,  and  grayish-brown  hair  braided  into 

1  An  archine  is  about  f  of  a  yard.  —  TR. 


RESURRECTION  135 

a  tight  pig-tail.  She  had  been  sentenced  to  penal  SQrvi- 
tude  for  killing  her  husband  with  an  axe,  because  she 
found  him  importuning  her  daughter.  She  was  at  one  and 
the  same  time  monitor  of  the  cell  and  controller  of  a 
small  traffic  in  liquor.  She  wore  spectacles  and  in  her 
large  sinewy  hand  she  held  a  needle  in  the  way  peasants 
do,  grasping  it  with  three  fingers,  with  the  point  aimed  at 
her  breast.  The  woman  who  sat  next  to  her,  making 
coarse  linen  bags,  was  a  little  body  with  a  pug  nose, 
sallow  skin,  and  small  black  eyes.  She  was  a  kind- 
hearted  creature  but  an  incessant  chatterbox.  She  had 
been  employed  as  signal-woman  on  the  railroad.  One 
day  she  was  not  at  her  post,  no  flag  was  shown,  an  accident 
occurred,  and  she  got  three  months'  imprisonment.  The 
third  woman  who  was  sewing — her  mates  called  her 
Fdnitchka,  but  her  name  was  really  Fed6sya- — was  young 
and  attractive.  Her  cheeks  were  rosy  and  her  eyes  were 
blue.  Her  luxuriant  brown  hair  was  plaited  in  two 
braids  and  coiled  around  her  small  head.  She  had  tried 
to  poison  her  husband.  It  was  very  soon  after  their 
marriage,  and  she  was  but  a  girl  of  sixteen.  While 
she  was  out  on  bail  awaiting  her  trial  it  seems  that  a 
reconciliation  took  place,  and  eight  months  after,  when 
the  trial  was  about  to  begin,  they  were  living  together,  as 
tender  and  devoted  a  couple  as  could  be  found.  Her 
husband  and  his  parents,  especially  his  mother,  who 
had  become  very  fond  of  the  girl,  moved  heaven  and  earth 
to  obtain  her  acquittal,  but  it  was  of  no  use.  She  was 
sentenced  to  exile  and  hard  labor  in  Siberia.  This  good- 
natured,  cheerful  little  woman,  with  her  face  always 
wreathed  in  smiles,  had  her  bunk  next  to  that  of  M&slova, 
of  whom  she  had  grown  so  fond  that  she  tried  to  do  every 
thing  she  could  to  make  her  comfortable.  Two  other 
women  sat  on  the  bunks  doing  nothing.  One  seemed 
about  forty  years  old,  evidently  a  good-looking  woman  in 
her  youth,  but  very  pale,  worn,  and  emaciated  now. 
She  was  nursing  a  child.  One  day,  in  the  village  where 


136  RESURRECTION 

she  used  to  live,  a  young  recruit  illegally  drafted  —  so  the 
peasants  thought  —  was  seized,  and  when  the  villagers 
stopped  the  Stanovoy  and  released  their  comrade,  this 
woman  —  aunt  of  the  recruit — had  been  the  first  to 
snatch  the  bridle  of  the  horse  on  which  they  were  taking 
him  away.  The  other  woman  who  seemed  to  have  no 
occupation  was  small,  humpbacked,  and  wrinkled,  and 
her  hair  was  gray,  but  she  had  a  pleasant  expression. 
She  was  pretending  to  catch  a  chubby  four-year-old  boy 
with  closely  clipped  hair  who  ran  to  and  fro,  laughing 
merrily.  He  had  nothing  on  but  a  shirt,  and  every 
time  he  passed  her,  he  cried  out,  "You  didn't  catch  me 
that  time!"  This  old  woman  and  her  son  had  been 
arrested  on  the  charge  of  arson.  She  bore  her  confine 
ment  with  the  utmost  patience,  troubled  only  about  her 
son  who  was  in  the  same  jail,  and  still  more  about  her  old 
man;  she  was  sure  he  would  be  devoured  by  vermin,  as 
her  daughter-in-law  had  gone  away  and  there  was  no  one 
to  look  after  him. 

Besides  these  seven  women  there  were  four  others,  who 
stood  by  one  of  the  open  windows,  holding  on  to  the  grat 
ing  and  exchanging  remarks  with  the  passing  convicts,  the 
same  set  that  Maslova  had  encountered.  One  of  these 
women,  who  was  serving  her  sentence  for  theft,  was  a 
large,  flabby,  and  freckled  creature,  with  red  hair  and  a 
double  chin  that  hung  over  her  unbuttoned  neck-band. 
She  kept  calling  to  the  men  in  the  yard,  shouting  the 
unseemly  words  in  a  loud,  rough  voice.  Beside  her 
stood  an  awkward,  dark-complexioned  woman  no  bigger 
than  a  child  of  ten,  with  a  long  body  and  short  legs.  Her 
face  was  covered  with  a  reddish  eruption,  her  black  eyes 
were  set  wide  apart,  and  as  she  burst  into  shouts  of 
laughter  at  what  went  on  in  the  yard,  her  thick  lips, 
parting,  revealed  her  large  white  teeth.  This  prisoner, 
nicknamed  "Horoshavka"  for  her  love  of  finery,  was  to 
be  tried  for  theft  and  arson.  Behind  them,  dressed  in  a 
dirty  gray  linen  chemise,  stood  a  thin,  wretched-looking 


RESURRECTION  137 

woman,  about  to  become  a  mother,  who  had  been  arrested 
for  concealing  stolen  goods.  She  stood  there  without 
speaking,  but  her  smile  showed  that  she  too  enjoyed  what 
was  going  on  in  the  yard.  The  fourth  woman  at  the 
window — accused  of  selling  liquor  without  a  license — • 
was  a  peasant,  short  and  stout,  with  prominent  eyes  and  a 
kindly  face.  She  was  the  mother  of  the  boy  who  was 
playing  with  the  old  woman,  and  also  of  a  seven-year- 
old  girl.  There  was  no  one  at  home  to  take  care  of  these 
children,  so  that  she  had  been  allowed  to  bring  them 
along.  She  stood  near  the  window,  knitting  a  stocking, 
and  glancing  out  from  time  to  time;  but  evidently  the 
goings-on  were  not  to  her  liking,  for  she  frowned  and 
closed  her  eyes  in  seeming  reproof  of  the  unseemly  re 
marks.  But  her  seven-year-old  daughter,  with  loose 
flaxen  hair,  clothed  only  with  a  skirt,  stood  clutching  the 
red-headed  woman's  petticoat  with  her  thin  little  hand, 
as  with  wide-open  eyes  and  ears  she  listened  greedily  to 
all  the  bad  words,  repeating  them  softly  to  herself  as  if 
she  were  learning  them  by  heart.  The  twelfth  prisoner 
was  a  sub-deacon's  daughter,  a  tall  and  stately  girl,  who 
took  no  notice  of  anything  that  went  on,  but  just  paced  up 
and  down  the  room,  her  eyes  fixed  in  a  dull  and  glassy 
stare.  Her  loosely  braided  hah:  hung  in  disorder  around 
her  face ;  she  wore  a  dirty  gray  chemise  and  her  feet  were 
bare.  She  was  the  girl  who  had  drowned  her  baby  in  the 
well. 

XXXI. 

WHEN  they  heard  the  lock  rattle  and  saw  Maslova 
coming  in,  every  eye  was  turned  upon  her.  Even  the  sub- 
deacon's  daughter  stopped  for  a  moment  and  glanced  with 
lifted  brows  to  see  who  the  new-comer  might  be,  before 
she  went  on  with  her  dogged  exercise.  Korabldva  jabbed 
her  needle  into  her  work  and  peered  at  Maslova  over  her 
spectacles  with  a  look  of  curiosity. 


138  RESURRECTION 

"Dear  me!  Have  you  come  back?  I  never  thought 
you'd  be  convicted,"  she  said  in  her  hoarse,  deep  mascu 
line  voice.  "They've  been  hard  on  you!" 

She  took  off  her  spectacles  and  put  her  work  down  on 
the  bunk  by  her  side. 

"Aunty  and  I  have  been  talking  about  it,  my  birdie, 
thinking  most  likely  you'd  be  let  off  at  once.  Such  things 
have  happened.  And  I  have  heard  of  their  giving  money, 
but  I  suppose  that's  just  a  chance."  The  signal-woman 
went  on  in  her  sing-song  voice:  "Well,  we  guessed 
wrong.  God  knows  best,  my  birdie,"  she  continued  in 
her  friendly,  consoling  fashion. 

"Have  they  really  convicted  you?"  asked  Fedosya, 
gazing  at  Maslova  with  compassionate  tenderness  in  her 
large,  blue  eyes;  the  bright  young  face  quivered  as  though 
she  were  going  to  cry. 

Mdslova  made  no  reply  and  going  silently  to  her  bunk, 
the  second  from  the  entrance,  beside  that  of  Korabldva, 
she  seated  herself  on  the  edge  of  it. 

"I  don't  suppose  you  have  had  anything  to  eat?"  said 
Fed6sya,  rising  and  going  to  Maslova. 

And  still  Maslova  didn't  open  her  lips.  She  put  the 
kalatchi  down  at  the  head  of  the  bunk  and  began  to  un 
dress,  taking  off  the  dusty  prison  cloak  and  the  kerchief 
from  her  curly  hair. 

The  humpbacked  old  woman  who  had  been  playing 
with  the  boy  also  came  up  and  stood  in  front  of  Maslova. 
"Tut,  tut,  tut,"  she  said  with  a  sympathetic  nod,  clicking 
her  tongue. 

The  little  boy  followed  her  with  open  eyes  and  pouting 
lips;  his  gaze  was  fixed  on  the  kalatchi  that  Maslova  had 
brought.  The  sight  of  these  many  sympathetic  faces 
after  all  she  had  gone  through  to-day  made  her  feel  like 
crying;  her  mouth  quivered,  still  she  controlled  herself 
until  the  old  woman  and  the  little  boy  came  up.  But 
when  she  heard  that  sympathetic  clicking  of  the  tongue, 
and  particularly  when  her  eyes  met  those  of  the  boy,  who 


RESURRECTION  139 

had  transferred  his  earnest  gaze  from  the  kalatchi  to  her 
face,  she  could  restrain  herself  no  longer.  Her  face  grew 
convulsed  and  she  burst  out  sobbing. 

"I  advise  you  to  get  a  good  lawyer,"  said  Korabldva. 
"Is  it  exile?"  she  asked. 

Mdslova  simply  could  not  answer,  but  still  sobbing,  she 
extracted  the  box  of  cigarettes  from  the  kalatchi  —  a  rosy- 
cheeked  lady  in  a  high  coiffure  and  gown  cut  with  a  V- 
shaped  bodice  was  painted  on  the  cover — and  handed  it 
to  Korabl6va  Korabldva  looked  at  the  picture,  shook 
her  head  disapprovingly,  principally  because  Mdslova  had 
spent  her  money  so  unprofitably,  took  out  a  cigarette  and 
lighting  it  by  the  flame  of  the  lamp,  took  one  whiff  herself, 
then  passed  it  back  to  Mdslova.  Mdslova,  crying  all  the 
while,  began  to  smoke  energetically. 

"Penal  servitude,"  she  said,  with  a  sob. 

"They  haven't  the  fear  of  God  in  their  hearts,  these 
damned  bloodthirsty  loafers!  To  condemn  an  innocent 
wench  like  that!"  cried  Korabl6va. 

A  peal  of  laughter  rang  out  from  the  women  at  the 
window,  —  the  little  girl  also  giggling,  her  thin,  childish 
voice  chiming  with  the  hoarse,  shrill  laughter  of  the 
adults.  A  convict  in  the  yard  had  done  something  which 
amused  the  spectators. 

"  You  shaved  monkey !  See  what  he  is  doing !"  said  the 
red-haired  woman,  and  swaying  her  fat  body  with  her 
face  pressed  close  up  to  the  grating,  she  shouted  some 
silly,  indecent  speech. 

"What  are  you  yelling  for,  you  drum-skin!"  said 
Korabl6va,  wrathfully  shaking  her  head.  Then  turning 
to  Maslova  she  asked,  "How  long?" 

"Four  years,"  replied  Maslova,  and  the  tears  streamed 
down  her  cheeks.  One  of  them  fell  on  the  cigarette. 
Maslova  angrily  crushed  it,  flung  it  down,  and  took  up 
another. 

The  signal-woman,  although  she  did  not  smoke,  instinc 
tively  picked  up  the  stump  and  tried  to  straighten  it  out, 


i4o  RESURRECTION 

as  she  talked.  "The  proverb  comes  true,  my  birdie, 
'truth  has  gone  to  the  dogs.'  They  do  as  they  please 
nowadays.  Some  of  us  here  did  think  that  you'd  be  let 
off.  Matveyvna  said  that  you'd  get  off.  But  I  says,  no, 
says  I,  my  heart  feels  that  they'll  just  gobble  her  up,  and 
so  it  turned  out,"  she  said,  evidently  liking  to  hear  herself 
talk. 

Meanwhile  the  convicts  had  all  passed  through  the  yard, 
and  the  women  who  had  been  chaffing  with  them  left  the 
window  and  they,  too,  came  up  to  Maslova.  The  first 
one  to  come  up  was  the  staring  liquor  vender  with  her 
little  girl. 

"Did  you  get  a  hard  one?"  she  asked,  seating  herself 
beside  Maslova  and  going  on  with  her  knitting. 

"  Of  course  it  was!"  Korabldva  spoke  up.  " If  there'd 
been  money  to  spend  on  a  good  lawyer  who  knows  what's 
what,  you'd  never  have  been  condemned,"  she  continued. 
"That  fellow  there,  with  the  big  nose  and  shaggy  hair, 
he'd  bring  you  out  dry  from  the  ocean !  If  you  could  only 
have  had  him!" 

"Not  much!  He  is  not  to  be  had!"  said  Horoshavka, 
who  had  joined  the  circle,  with  a  grin.  "He  wouldn't 
even  spit  for  less  than  a  thousand  roubles!" 

"You  must  have  been  born  under  an  unlucky  star!" 
said  the  old  woman  in  prison  for  arson.  "  Just  think  of 
me,  how  my  boy's  wife  was  taken  away,  and  me  shut  up  in 
prison  hi  my  old  age,"  and  she  began  recounting  her  story 
for  the  hundredth  time.  "Between  the  prison  and  the 
beggar's  sack  there's  small  chance  for  you.  If  it  isn't 
one,  it's  the  other." 

"Yes,  that's  about  it,"  said  the  liquor  dealer,  and  glanc 
ing  at  her  little  girl  she  put  away  her  stocking  and  taking 
the  child  between  her  knees,  began  with  practised  fingers 
to  search  her  head.  "A  woman  ought  not  to  sell  liquor! 
But  how's  she  going  to  feed  the  children?"  she  said,  pro 
ceeding  with  her  familiar  occupation. 

These  words  reminded  Maslova  of  liquor. 


RESURRECTION  141 

"If  I  could  only  have  a  drink!"  she  said  to  Kora- 
b!6va,  wiping  her  tears  away  with  the  sleeve  of  her 
chemise;  she  still  sobbed  from  time  to  time. 

"A  drink?     Of  course  you  can,"  replied  Korabldva. 

XXXII. 

MASLOVA  took  her  money  from  the  kaldtch  and  handed 
the  coupon  to  Korabldva,  who  received  it  and  went 
through  the  ceremony  of  examining  it,  but  being  illiterate 
she  had  to  trust  to  the  superior  knowledge  of  Horoshavka, 
who  reported  that  the  scrap  of  paper  was  worth  two  roubles 
and  fifty  copecks;  she  then  went  to  the  chimney,  opened 
the  ventilator,  and  pulled  out  a  glass  flask  filled  with  liquor. 
Seeing  this  the  women  who  were  not  her  neighbors  in  the 
bunk,  withdrew  to  their  own  places.  Meanwhile  Mas- 
lova,  having  shaken  the  dust  from  her  kerchief  and  cloak, 
had  got  into  her  bunk  and  began  to  eat  the  kaldtch. 

"  I  saved  some  tea  for  you,  but  I'm  afraid  it  is  cold  by 
this  time,"  said  Feddsya  to  her,  taking  from  the  shelf  a 
mug  and  a  tin  tea-pot,  wrapped  in  an  old  cloth. 

The  beverage  was  cold  and  tasted  more  like  tin  than 
tea;  but  M£slova  filled  the  mug  and  drank  it  to  moisten 
her  dry  kaldtch. 

"Here,  Finashka,  here's  a  bit  for  you,"  she  called,  and 
breaking  off  a  piece  of  the  kaldtch  she  gave  it  to  the  boy, 
who  was  watching  her. 

Meanwhile  Korabldva  had  handed  her  the  wine  flask 
and  the  mug.  Maslova  offered  some  to  Korabldva  and 
Horoshavka.  These  three  prisoners  composed  the  aristoc 
racy  of  the  cell,  because  they  had  money  and  shared  with 
one  another  whatever  they  possessed. 

A  few  minutes  later  Mdslova  had  brightened  up,  and 
was  chatting  away,  describing  the  trial.  She  mimicked 
the  Prosecutor,  and  told  how  very  funny  it  was  to  see  all 
the  men  so  taken  up  with  her.  It  made  no  difference 
where  she  was:  in  the  court-room  they  stared  at  her  as 


I42  RESURRECTION 

much  as  they  chose,  but  even  when  she  was  in  the  waiting- 
room,  they  made  excuses  for  coming  in  to  look  at  her. 

"Even  the  guard  said  to  me,  'All  they  come  in  here 
for  is  to  see  you.'  A  man  would  run  in  and  ask, '  Where 
is  such  and  such  a  paper  ?'  or  something  of  that  sort,  but 
it  was  plain  enough  to  be  seen  he  did  not  want  any  paper 
at  all;  he  was  just  devouring  me  with  his  eyes  all  the 
while,"  she  said,  smiling  and  shaking  her  head  in  wonder. 
"Oh,  they  know  what  they  want!" 

"That's  so,"  interjected  the  signal-woman,  and  on  she 
went,  pouring  forth  a  streak  of  talk  in  her  sing-song 
voice.  "They  are  like  flies  after  sugar.  They  may  not 
know  much  about  other  things,  but  where  women  come  in, 
they're  wide  awake!  They  can  live  without  bread  ..." 

"And  even  here,"  interrupted  M£slova,  "I  got  right 
in  the  midst  of  it.  When  I  came  in,  a  company  of  con 
victs  had  just  been  brought  up  from  the  railway.  If  it 
hadn't  been  for  the  Assistant  Inspector  I  should  have 
fared  badly.  As  it  was,  I  had  all  I  could  do  to  get  away 
from  one  man." 

"What  sort  of  looking  fellow?"  asked  Horoshavka. 

"  Dark,  with  a  mustache." 

"That  must  be  the  one." 

"What  one?" 

"Stchegl6v.     The  man  that  just  went  along." 

"And  who  is  he?" 

"Haven't  you  heard  about  Stchegldv?  He  has  run 
away  twice.  They've  caught  him  now,  but  he'll  get  away 
from  them.  Even  the  overseers  are  afraid  of  him,"  said 
Horoshavka,  who  sent  notes  to  the  convicts  and  knew  all 
that  was  going  on  in  the  prison.  "  Mark  my  word  that 
he'll  escape." 

"If  he  goes,  he'll  not  take  you  and  me  along,"  said 
Korabldva.  "You'd  better  tell  us  what  the  lawyer  said 
to  you  about  the  petition,"  she  said  to  Mdslova.  "Have 
you  got  to  send  it  in  right  away  ?"  Maslova  replied  that 
she  didn't  know  one  thing  about  it.  Just  then  the  "red- 


RESURRECTION  143 

head,"  with  both  freckled  hands  plunged  in  her  tangled 
hair,  industriously  scratching  her  head,  walked  up  to  the 
"aristocracy." 

"  I'll  tell  you  just  what  you've  got  to  do,  Katerlna,"  she 
began.  "  In  the  first  place  you  must  write  down  on  paper 
how  you  are  not  satisfied  with  the  sentence,  and  send  that 
paper  to  the  Prosecutor." 

"What  business  have  you  got  here?"  cried  Kora- 
b!6va,  in  an  angry  voice.  "You  smell  the  liquor,  that's 
why  you're  so  anxious.  We  know  what  to  do  without 
your  advice." 

"What's  the  matter  with  you?  I  am  not  talking  to 
you!" 

"Yes,  I  know,  you'd  like  a  drink,  that's  why  you  are 
so  nice  all  at  once." 

"  Well,  give  her  some,"  said  M£slova,  who  was  always 
giving  things  away. 

"I'll  give  her  something  she  won't  like " 

"Let's  see  you  do  it,"  began  the  red-haired  one,  ad 
vancing  towards  Korablova.  "Think  I'm  afraid  of 
you!" 

"You  prison  skin!" 

"You're  another!" 

"You  boiled  tripe!" 

"  Tripe,  is  it  ?  You  murderess !"  shouted  the  red-haired 
woman. 

"  Now  get  out  of  this,"  said  Korabldva,  gloomily. 

But  there  was  no  holding  the  red-head  now;  on  she 
came,  and  Korabldva  gave  her  one  blow  on  her  chest. 
That  was  enough !  The  fight  was  on.  Out  flew  one  hand 
and  grabbed  Korabldva  by  the  hair,  while  the  other  aimed 
a  blow  at  her  face.  Korablova  seized  that  hand,  while 
Mdslova  and  Horoshavka  tried  to  pull  her  back  by  main 
force;  but  having  once  got  a  grip  of  that  braid,  Mistress 
Redhead  had  no  idea  of  letting  it  go.  Only  for  a  second 
did  she  relax  her  hold,  but  it  was  to  twist  the  hair  more 
firmly  round  her  fist.  All  this  time  Korabldva,  holding 


144  RESURRECTION 

her  head  sideways,  was  battering  the  red-head  in  the  chest 
and  trying  to  catch  between  her  teeth  the  hand  that  was 
tearing  out  her  hair.  All  the  other  women  crowded  round 
the  combatants,  screaming  and  doing  their  best  to  sepa 
rate  them.  Even  the  consumptive  one  drew  near  and 
stood  coughing  as  she  watched  the  fight.  The  children 
huddled  together,  crying. 

Presently  the  wardens,  hearing  the  noise,  came  in  and 
separated  the  fighters.  Korablova  unbraided  her  gray 
locks,  and  the  loose  hair  that  had  been  plucked  out  fell 
to  the  floor.  Meanwhile  the  red-haired  woman  tried  to 
pull  her  torn  chemise  together,  and  both  women  went  on 
with  their  loud-voiced  complaints. 

"It's  liquor  that's  at  the  bottom  of  it  all!  To-morrow 
I  shall  report  you  to  the  Superintendent.  He'll  attend  to 
you  I  I  can  smell  it!"  said  the  matron.  "Look  out! 
You'd  better  get  it  out  of  sight  if  you  know  what's  good 
for  you!  We  have  no  time  to  hear  your  stories  now. 
Go  to  your  bunks  and  keep  quiet!" 

But  it  was  a  long  time  before  they  could  be  reduced  to 
silence.  The  women  still  kept  shouting  across  the  room 
at  each  other,  telling  how  it  all  began  and  whose  fault 
it  was.  At  last  the  wardens  went  away,  the  women  calmed 
down  and  began  to  get  ready  for  bed.  The  old  woman 
stood  before  the  ikon  and  said  her  prayers. 

"Yah!  You  convicts!"  came  the  hoarse  voice  of  the 
red-haired  woman  from  the  other  end  of  the  room,  ac 
companying  each  word  with  choice  invectives. 

"You  better  look  out  for  yourself;  you'll  catch  it  again," 
retorted  Korablova,  with  a  train  of  similar  invectives. 

Then  both  relapsed  into  silence. 

"  If  they  hadn't  interfered,  I'd  have  scratched  your  old 
eyes  out!"  began  the  red-haired  one  again,  and  again 
came  a  retort  in  kind  from  Korabldva. 

Then  a  longer  interval  of  silence,  followed  by  fresh  in 
vectives.  However,  the  intervals  continued  to  grow  longer 
and  longer  and  silence  finally  won  the  victory. 


RESURRECTION  145 

Most  of  the  women  had  gone  to  bed,  and  some  were 
snoring.  The  only  ones  still  up  were  the  old  woman,  who 
always  spent  a  long  time  praying,  and  who  was  still 
prostrating  herself  before  the  ikon,  and  the  sub-deacon's 
daughter,  who  as  soon  as  the  wardens  had  left,  rose  and 
began  again  to  pace  the  room. 

But  Maslova  was  not  asleep ;  she  was  thinking  to  herself, 
"Now  I  am  really  a  convict,"  for  she  had  been  called  so 
twice,  once  by  Botchkova  and  again  by  the  red-haired 
woman,  and  she  could  not  reconcile  herself  to  the  idea. 
Korabb'va,  who  had  been  lying  with  her  back  towards 
her,  now  changed  her  position. 

"I  never  dreamed  that  I  should  come  to  this,"  said 
Maslova,  in  a  low  voice.  "Other  people  do  far  worse 
things  than  I  ever  did,  and  they  are  not  punished,  while 
I  must  suffer  for  a  crime  I  never  committed." 

"  Don't  be  despondent,  girl !  Siberia  isn't  death,  people 
manage  to  get  on  there.  I  guess  you'll  survive  it,"  said 
Korablova  to  comfort  her. 

"I  know  I'll  survive  it;  but  it's  too  bad!  I'm  not  used 
to  hardships." 

"You  can't  go  against  the  will  of  God,"  said  Kora- 
b!6va,  with  a  sigh.  "You  can't  go  against  Him!" 

"I  know  that,  aunty;  but  it's  hard  all  the  same!" 

They  were  silent. 

"Hark,  listen  to  that  wretch!"  said  Korabldva,  calling 
Maslova's  attention  to  strange  sounds  that  came  from 
one  of  the  bunks  of  the  opposite  side. 

These  sounds  were  the  suppressed  sobs  of  the  red- 
haired  woman.  She  was  crying  now  over  the  beating 
she  had  got  and  the  liquor  that  she  hadn't,  that  liquor  she 
wanted  so  badly,  too!  And  then  she  cried  because  her 
whole  life  was  just  one  succession  of  abuse,  jeers,  insults, 
and  blows.  She  tried  to  comfort  herself  by  remembering 
her  first  love  for  a  factory  hand,  a  man  called  Fedka  Molo- 
de*nkof,  but  when  she  thought  of  this  love,  she  couldn't 
forget  how  it  ended.  This  Molode'nkof  had  rubbed  vitriol 

VOL.    I. — 10 


146  RESURRECTION 

on  a  sensitive  spot  of  her  body  when  he  was  drunk  and 
made  merry  over  it  with  his  mates  while  she  was  writhing 
in  agony.  She  thought  of  this  and  pitied  herself,  and 
thinking  no  one  would  hear  her,  she  began  to  cry  aloud 
as  children  do,  sniffling  and  swallowing  her  salt  tears. 

"  She  is  to  be  pitied,"  said  M&slova. 

"Of  course  she  is;  but  she's  got  to  behave  herself." 

XXXIII. 

NEKHL{JDOF'S  first  sensation  when  he  awoke  -tiie  next 
morning  was  a  dim  consciousness  that  something  unusual 
and  of  great  importance  had  happened  to  him. 

"Katrisha  —  the  trial!"  Yes,  the  first  thing  was  to 
stop  lying  and  speak  the  whole  truth.  By  a  singular  coin 
cidence,  he  received,  that  very  morning,  the  long-expected 
letter  from  Marya  Vassilievna,  the  Marshal's  wife,  that 
letter  which  was  now  of  no  particular  use  to  him.  She 
gave  him  full  liberty,  wishing  him  happiness  in  his  ap 
proaching  marriage.  "Marriage!"  he  uttered  ironically. 
"I  am  a  long  way  from  marriage." 

He  remembered  his  last  night's  intention  of  telling  her 
husband  everything,  of  asking  his  forgiveness  and  de 
claring  his  readiness  to  give  him  entire  satisfaction.  But 
to-day  this  did  not  seem  so  simple  a  matter.  After  all, 
why  make  a  man  miserable  when  he  might  just  as  well 
be  left  in  ignorance  ?  If  he  were  to  ask,  then  I  would  tell 
him.  But  what  is  the  good  of  going  to  him  voluntarily 
and  telling  him?  That  was  certainly  unnecessary.  It 
also  seemed  more  difficult  to  tell  the  truth  to  Missy,  now 
that  the  morning  threw  another  light  upon  it.  It  really 
was  not  his  place  to  speak;  it  would  be  insulting.  The 
usual  convenances  called  for  a  certain  discretion;  absolute 
frankness  was  out  of  the  question.  Some  things  must  be 
taken  for  granted.  He  decided  upon  one  thing  this  morn 
ing;  he  would  visit  there  no  more  and  would  speak  the 
truth,  if  asked  the  reason  why.  But  there  should  be  noth- 


RESURRECTION  147 

ing  indefinite  so  far  as  his  relations  with  Katrisha  were 
concerned. 

"I  shall  go  to  the  prison  and  tell  her  everything;  then 
I  shall  beg  her  to  forgive  me,  and  if  need  be,  yes,  if  need 
be,  I  shall  marry  her,"  he  said  to  himself. 

This  thought  of  marrying  her  and  giving  up  everything 
for  the  sake  of  a  moral  principle  was  particularly  consol 
ing  to  him  this  morning. 

It  had  been  a  long  time  since  he  had  felt  so  energetic. 
He  spoke  to  Agraphe'na  Petrovna  with  more  firmness  than 
he  had  given  himself  credit  for  possessing;  he  told  her 
that  he  should  no  longer  require  either  his  present  apart 
ment  or  her  services.  There  had  been  a  tacit  understand 
ing  that  he  was  keeping  this  spacious  apartment  because 
he  was  going  to  be  married.  Therefore  when  he  said  he 
should  no  longer  need  the  apartment,  Agraphena  Petrdvna 
looked  at  him  with  surprise. 

"  I  am  much  obliged  to  you,  Agraphena  Petrovna,  for  all 
your  care;  but  I  have  no  longer  any  use  for  this  large 
apartment  and  so  many  servants.  If  you  wish  to  help 
me,  will  you  be  kind  enough  to  see  to  the  things,  and  have 
them  packed  for  a  while,  as  you  used  to  do  when  my 
mother  was  living  ?  And  when  Natdsha  comes,  she  will 
see  to  things."  Natasha  was  Nekhludofs  sister. 

Agraphena  Petrdvna  shook  her  head. 

"Pack  away  the  things?     Why,  you' 11  need  them  again." 

"No,  they'll  not  be  needed,  Agraphena  Petrdvna. 
That's  certain,"  replied  Nekhludof,  answering  the  thought 
that  was  in  her  mind  when  she  shook  her  head.  "  Please 
tell  Korney  that  I  shall  pay  him  two  months  in  advance, 
and  that  I  shall  no  longer  need  his  services." 

"You  may  be  sorry  for  this,  Dmitri  Ivdnovitch,"  she 
said.  "  Even  if  you  do  go  abroad,  you  will  still  need  an 
establishment." 

"You  are  mistaken,  Agraphe'na  Petrovna.  I  am  not 
going  abroad;  if  I  go  anywhere,  it  will  be  to  a  very  different 
place." 


i48  RESURRECTION 

Here  he  suddenly  blushed. 

"I  shall  have  to  tell  her;  nothing  can  be  kept  back. 
Every  one  must  be  told,"  he  thought. 

"A  very  strange  and  unusual  thing  has  happened  to 
me.  Of  course  you  remember  Katusha  who  used  to  live 
with  Aunt  Marya  Ivanovna?" 

"To  be  sure,  I  do.     I  taught  her  how  to  sew." 

"  Well,  this  Katusha  was  on  trial  yesterday,  and  I  was 
on  the  jury." 

"  What  a  shame !  What  was  she  tried  for  ?"  exclaimed 
Agraphena  Petrovna. 

"For  murder,  and  it  was  all  my  fault." 

"  How  can  that  be  ?  That's  a  very  strange  way  of  talk 
ing,"  said  Agraphena  Petrdvna,  her  old  eyes  sparkling  as 
she  spoke. 

She  knew  all  about  the  affair  with  Katusha. 

"Yes,  it  was  entirely  my  fault.  And  that  is  why  all 
my  plans  are  changed." 

"Why  should  you  change  them?" 

"Because  I  am  the  man  who  started  her  along  that 
path,  and  I  must  do  what  I  can  to  help  her." 

"Of  course  you  can  do  what  you  please;  but  I  must 
say  I  can't  see  that  it's  any  particular  fault  of  yours. 
Such  things  happen  to  everybody,  and  if  people  use  their 
common  sense,  affairs  like  that  are  soon  overlooked  and 
forgotten."  Here  her  voice  took  a  more  serious  tone: 
"You  ought  not  to  take  all  the  blame  to  yourself.  I 
heard  that  she  had  gone  to  the  bad,  but  who's  to  blame 
for  that?" 

"I  am;  and  that's  the  reason  why  I  want  to  make 
amends." 

"It's  no  such  easy  matter." 

"That's  my  affair.  But  if  you  are  thinking  about 
yourself,  then  let  me  say  that  the  wish  which  mamma  ex 
pressed " 

"I  am  not  thinking  about  myself.  I  have  been  so 
generously  treated  by  the  deceased  lady,  that  I  have  noth- 


RESURRECTION  149 

ing  more  to  desire.  Lizenka" — her  married  niece — • 
"  wants  me,  and  I  shall  go  there,  when  I  am  no  longer 
needed  here.  Only  you  ought  not  to  take  this  so  much  to 
heart.  Such  a  thing  might  happen  to  any  man." 

"Well,  I  don't  think  so.  But  I  will  ask  you  again  to 
help  me  rent  the  apartment  and  pack  away  the  things. 
And  please  do  not  be  angry  with  me.  I  am  greatly 
obliged  to  you  for  all  you  have  done  for  me." 

The  most  remarkable  part  of  all  this  was  that  since 
Nekhliidof  had  begun  to  realize  his  own  faults  and  to  be 
disgusted  with  himself,  he  no  longer  felt  any  dislike  for 
other  people.  On  the  contrary  he  felt  most  amiably  dis 
posed  towards  both  Agraphena  Petr6vna  and  Korne'y. 
He  was  eager  to  confess  himself  to  Korne'y  also,  but  the 
demeanor  of  that  stately  personage  was  so  austerely 
deferential,  he  really  couldn't  find  courage  to  approach 
him. 

On  the  way  to  Court,  as  he  drove  through  the  same 
streets  with  the  same  isvdstchik,  Nekhliidof  was  surprised 
to  find  himself  such  a  different  being. 

His  marriage  with  Missy  which  had  seemed  so  probable 
yesterday  was  quite  impossible  to-day.  Yesterday  he  had 
believed  that  she  really  wished  to  marry  him;  to-day  he 
felt  too  unworthy  to  offer  her  even  his  friendship,  not  to 
speak  of  marriage.  "If  she  only  knew  what  I  am,  she 
would  not  allow  me  to  enter  her  presence.  And  I  was 
reproaching  her  for  flirting  with  that  man!  And  even  if 
she  consented  to  marry  me,  how  could  I  enjoy  any  happi 
ness  or  peace  of  mind  knowing  that  the  other  one  was  in 
prison,  and  that  one  of  these  days  she  would  be  starting 
with  a  company  of  convicts  for  Siberia?  The  woman 
whom  I  deceived  in  penal  servitude,  while  I  am  receiving 
congratulations  and  paying  wedding  visits !  Or  how  could 
I  keep  up  my  friendship  with  the  Marshal  who  has  been 
so  grossly  deceived  by  his  wife  and  me,  how  could  I  go  on 
counting  votes  on  the  resolutions  for  school  inspection  by 
the  Ztmstvo,  etc.,  all  the  while  making  appointments 


ISO  RESURRECTION 

with  his  wife?  Horrible  thought!  How  could  I  go  on 
with  my  picture?  Certainly  that  will  never  be  finished 
now.  What  right  have  I  to  squander  my  time  over 
painting?  No,"  he  said  to  himself,  "that  belongs  to  the 
past,"  and  he  rejoiced  at  the  spiritual  change  which  had 
come  over  him. 

"In  the  first  place  I  must  see  the  lawyer  and  hear  what 
he  has  decided  to  do,  and  then  .  .  .  then  go  and  see  her, 
in  prison,  and  tell  her  everything!  "  he  thought. 

And  when  he  imagined  himself  in  her  presence,  telling 
her  everything,  his  repentance  for  his  sin,  and  his  deter 
mination  to  atone  for  it  by  marrying  her,  a  feeling  of 
rapture  filled  his  heart  and  brought  tears  into  his  eyes. 

XXXIV. 

ON  reaching  the  Court  House,  Nekhliidof  met  an  usher 
in  the  corridor,  the  same  one  he  had  seen  on  the  previous 
day.  He  asked  him  where  the  prisoners  were  kept  after 
they  were  sentenced,  and  who  could  give  him  a  permit  to 
visit  them. 

The  officer  explained  that  the  criminals  were  kept  in 
different  places  and  that  until  they  received  their  sentence 
in  its  final  form,  permission  to  visit  them  depended  on 
the  Government  Prosecutor. 

"  I  will  attend  to  that  for  you  after  the  session  is  over. 
The  Prosecutor  isn't  here  yet,  but  after  the  session  you 
can  see  him.  Now  please  go  into  Court.  It  will  open  in 
a  few  minutes." 

Thanking  the  officer  for  his  courtesy  —  he  seemed  much 
more  an  object  of  pity  than  yesterday  —  Nekhliidof 
turned  towards  the  jury-room. 

As  he  drew  near,  he  met  his  fellow-jurymen  filing  out 
on  their  way  to  the  court-room.  The  merchant,  having 
taken  something  to  eat  and  drink,  was  as  merry  as  ever 
and  greeted  Nekhliidof  like  an  old  friend.  To-day  even 
the  familiarity  and  boisterous  laughter  of  Piotr  Ghe- 


RESURRECTION  151 

rdssimovitch  excited  no  aversion.  Nekhliidof  longed  to 
tell  the  jurymen  about  his  relations  to  yesterday's  pris 
oner.  "  That's  what  I  ought  to  have  done  yesterday 
while  the  trial  was  going  on,"  he  said  to  himself.  "I 
ought  to  have  made  a  public  acknowledgment  of  my  sin!" 
But  when  he  entered  the  court-room  with  the  other  jury 
men  and  heard  the  usual  proclamation,  "  The  Judges  are 
coming,"  when  he  saw  them  on  the  platform  in  their 
embroidered  collars,  saw  the  jurymen  take  their  seats  in 
the  high-backed  chairs,  saw  the  gendarmes  and  the  priest, 
the  silence  of  the  room  was  so  impressive  that  though  he 
still  felt  it  his  duty  to  speak,  he  had  not  the  courage  to 
disturb  this  solemn  assembly. 

The  preparations  for  the  trial  did  not  differ  from  yester 
day's,  except  the  swearing  in  of  the  jury  and  the  address 
of  the  Presiding  Justice. 

It  was  a  case  of  burglary  to-day.  The  culprit,  guarded 
by  two  gendarmes  with  drawn  swords,  was  a  thin,  narrow- 
shouldered,  pale-faced  lad  of  twenty,  wrapped  in  the  gray 
prison  cloak.  He  sat  alone  in  the  dock,  peering  from  un 
der  his  eyebrows  at  the  new-comers.  He  was  accused,  he 
and  one  of  his  pals,  of  having  broken  into  a  shed  and 
stolen  some  old  mats  valued  at  three  roubles  and  sixty- 
seven  copecks.  According  to  the  indictment,  it  seems 
that  the  policeman  arrested  him  when  he  was  walking 
with  his  pal,  the  latter  carrying  the  mats  on  his  shoulder. 
They  both  confessed  at  once  and  were  forthwith  taken  to 
jail.  His  pal,  who  was  a  locksmith,  had  died  in  prison, 
and  so  the  boy  was  to  be  tried  alone.  The  old  mats  were 
lying  on  the  table  as  material  evidence. 

The  trial  was  conducted  in  exactly  the  same  fashion  as 
on  the  previous  day,  with  all  the  accouterment  of  demon 
stration,  oath,  question,  expert  and  cross-examination. 
The  policeman  called  as  a  witness  answered  every  ques 
tion  put  to  him,  whether  by  Presiding  Justice,  Public 
Prosecutor,  or  counsel  for  the  defense,  in  the  same  listless 
manner:  "Just  so.  ..."  "  I  couldn't  say."  "Just  so 


152  RESURRECTION 

.  .  . "  He  evidently  pitied  the  boy,  and  his  stereotyped 
replies  and  the  military  stolidity  of  his  manner  barely 
concealed  his  reluctance  to  testify  against  him. 

The  other  witness,  an  elderly  and  bilious  man  and  a 
house  proprietor,  was  the  owner  of  the  mats.  He  identi 
fied  them  after  some  hesitation,  but  when  the  Assistant 
Prosecutor  asked  for  what  purpose  he  used  them,  and 
what  he  was  going  to  do  with  them,  he  became  excited 
and  exclaimed:  "They  are  of  no  use  to  me  at  all!  I'd 
rather  have  given  ten  or  twenty  roubles,  than  had  all  this 
fuss  over  them!  If  I'd  known  what  a  bother  it  was  going 
to  make,  I  never  would  have  looked  for  them.  Now 
I've  wasted  five  roubles  on  izvostchiks,  and  I'm  not  a  well 
man.  I  suffer  from  rheumatism  and  hernia." 

So  testified  the  witnesses.  The  prisoner  stood  like 
some  hunted  creature,  casting  furtive  glances  around 
the  room;  he  confessed  his  guilt  and  in  broken  sentences 
told  how  it  all  happened. 

It  was  quite  simple.  But  the  Assistant  Prosecutor 
shrugged  his  shoulders  as  he  had  done  the  day  before  and 
put  the  same  shrewd  questions,  framed  to  ensnare  a 
cunning  culprit. 

In  his  argument  he  showed  that  the  theft  had  been  com 
mitted  not  only  in  a  dwelling-house  but  by  forcible  en 
trance;  the  lad  had  broken  the  lock  and  must  therefore 
be  severely  punished. 

The  lawyer  appointed  for  the  defense  contended  that 
the  theft  was  not  really  committed  in  a  dwelling-house, 
and  although  the  crime  could  not  be  denied,  still  the 
criminal  was  not  the  menace  to  society  that  the  Assistant 
Prosecutor  described. 

As  on  the  previous  day  the  Presiding  Justice  represented 
incarnate  justice  and  impartiality;  he  explained  to  the 
jurors  what  they  already  knew,  and  could  not  help  know 
ing.  Then  came  the  usual  recesses  which  were  spent  in 
smoking,  and  again  the  usher,  in  the  customary  loud  tone 
of  voice,  proclaimed,  "The  Judges  are  coming,"  and  the 


RESURRECTION  153 

gendarmes   with   their  drawn   swords   made   the   same 
effort  to  keep  awake. 

The  proceedings  showed  that  this  lad's  father  had  ap 
prenticed  him  in  a  tobacco  factory  where  he  had  worked 
for  five  years.  This  year  there  had  been  an  uprising 
among  the  operatives,  and  the  lad  had  lost  his  place.  So, 
being  out  of  work,  he  loafed  around  the  alehouse,  spend 
ing  what  little  he  had  in  liquor.  Here  he  fell  in  with  the 
locksmith,  out  of  work  like  himself,  and  a  drinking  man 
into  the  bargain.  One  night,  when  they  were  both  in 
toxicated,  they  broke  the  lock  in  question  and  took  the 
first  thing  that  came  to  hand.  They  were  caught  and 
sent  to  jail,  where  the  locksmith  died  before  the  trial. 
The  boy  was  now  on  trial  as  a  dangerous  character, 
against  whom  society  must  be  protected. 

"Just  about  as  dangerous  a  creature  as  yesterday's 
criminal,"  thought  Nekhludof  as  he  listened  to  the  argu 
ment.  "They  are  dangerous.  And  we?  What  are 
we  ?  ...  I,  a  profligate  and  liar,  and  yet  no  man  who 
knows  me  despises  me  on  that  account !  It  is  easy  to  see 
that  this  poor  fellow  is  just  an  ordinary  lad  —  any  one 
could  tell  that;  he  is  no  villain,  but  simply  the  natural 
product  of  certain  influences.  If  we  wish  to  rid  society 
of  that  type  of  boy,  we  must  look  after  the  influences  that 
go  towards  making  him  what  he  is.  When  hunger  drove 
him  from  the  village  into  the  city,  if  there  had  been  one 
single  person  to  have  taken  pity  on  the  lad,"  thought 
Nekhludof,  looking  at  the  boy's  terrified  face,  "or  to 
have  lent  him  a  helping  hand,  —  one  friend  to  whisper  in 
his  ear:  'I  wouldn't  do  that,  Vassya;  it  isn't  right!'  —  the 
boy,  tempted  by  his  mates  to  spend  his  slender  wages  in 
the  alehouse,  after  twelve  hours'  work  in  the  factory, 
would  have  listened  to  that  kindly  voice;  he  never  would 
have  committed  this  offense,  or  have  been  where  he  is  now. 
But  during  all  those  years  of  his  apprenticeship,  when  the 
poor  little  fellow  was  living  in  the  city  like  some  wild 
creature  of  the  fields  caught  in  a  trap,  running  on  errands, 


1 54  RESURRECTION 

with  his  hair  clipped  close  to  his  head  so  as  not  to  breed 
vermin, — no  such  friend  came  to  his  rescue.  He  heard 
loud  praises  of  men  who  led  loose  lives,  drinking  and 
cheating,  brawling  and  debauchery  —  'A  man  like  that 
now  was  a  fine  fellow!' 

"Then  came  the  time  when,  out  of  work,  his  health 
ruined  by  drink  and  wretched  food,  half  stupefied  and  not 
knowing  what  he  was  about,  wandering  aimlessly  through 
the  streets,  he  came  upon  that  shed  and  stole  a  few  old 
mats,  of  no  use  to  any  living  mortal.  And  we  propose  to 
set  the  matter  right  by  punishing  the  boy !  All  the  causes 
that  have  contributed  to  make  him  what  he  is  to-day  are 
to  be  left  untouched,  and  he  is  to  suffer  the  penalty. 
Good  heavens !" 

One  by  one  these  thoughts  passed  through  Nekhludof  's 
mind,  and  he  paid  little  heed  to  the  proceedings.  He  was 
horrified  by  his  discovery.  He  wondered  why  he  could 
not  have  seen  it  all  before,  and  why  others  were  blind  to 
it  now. 

XXXV. 

DURING  the  recess  Nekhludof  went  out  into  the  corridor. 
He  had  made  up  his  mind  not  to  go  back  into  the  court 
room  again.  Let  them  impose  whatever  penalty  they 
chose,  he  would  take  no  further  part  in  this  folly. 

He  inquired  for  the  Prosecutor's  room,  and  on  being 
told  which  one  it  was,  he  started  to  enter,  but  the  messen 
ger  refused  him  admittance,  saying  that  the  Prosecutor 
was  engaged.  But  Nekhludof,  paying  not  the  slightest 
attention,  entered  the  room  and  requested  a  clerk  who 
came  forward  to  announce  his  name,  and  also  to  say  to  the 
Prosecutor  that  one  of  the  jurymen  wished  to  see  him  on 
very  important  business.  The  princely  title  and  his  fine 
clothes  assisted  his  cause. 

The  clerk,  after  announcing  his  name  to  the  Prosecutor, 
ushered  him  into  the  presence  of  that  personage,  who  had 


RESURRECTION  155 

already  risen  to  his  feet,  and  showing  marked  displeasure 
at  the  persistence  with  which  Nekhliidof  demanded  this 
audience,  asked  sternly,  "What  do  you  wish?" 

"I  am  on  the  jury;  my  name  is  Nekhliidof.  It  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  me  to  see  the  prisoner  Mdslova." 
He  spoke  forcibly  and  flushed  as  he  did  so,  realizing  that 
he  was  taking  an  irrevocable  step,  one  which  would  affect 
his  whole  life. 

The  Prosecutor  was  a  swarthy  little  man  with  grizzled 
hair  and  keen,  sparkling  eyes.  His  prominent  chin  was 
overgrown  with  a  thick,  closely  cut  beard. 

"  Maslova  ?  Yes,  I  know.  That  is  the  poisoning  case," 
said  the  Prosecutor,  quietly.  "Why  do  you  wish  to 
see  her?"  Then,  as  though  to  soften  the  acerbity  of  his 
question,  he  added,  "I  cannot  give  you  the  permission, 
unless  I  know  your  reason  for  desiring  it." 

"I  have  a  most  serious  reason,"  said  Nekhliidof,  flush 
ing. 

"Indeed?"  said  the  Prosecutor,  and  raising  his  eyes  he 
gazed  inquiringly  at  Nekhliidof.  "Has  her  case  been 
tried  yet?" 

"It  was  tried  yesterday,  and  she  was  unjustly  con 
demned  to  four  years'  hard  labor.  She  is  innocent." 

"Yes?  Well,  if  it  was  only  yesterday  that  she  was 
sentenced,"  he  said,  paying  no  attention  to  Nekhliidof 's 
affirmation  of  Maslova's  innocence,  "before  the  sentence 
is  promulgated  in  its  final  form  she  will  be  kept  in  the 
Preliminary  Prison.  They  have  certain  visiting  days.  I 
advise  you  to  inquire  there." 

"  But  I  must  see  her  as  soon  as  possible,"  said  Nekhlii 
dof;  his  chin  quivered,  for  he  knew  that  the  decisive 
moment  was  at  hand. 

"  Why  must  you  ?"  asked  the  Prosecutor  uneasily,  rais 
ing  his  eyebrows. 

"  Because  she  has  been  sentenced  to  hard  labor  and  be 
cause  she  is  innocent.  It  is  I  who  am  the  guilty  one," 
replied  Nekhliidof  in  a  voice  shaking  with  emotion,  with 


i56  RESURRECTION 

a  strange  feeling  that  he  was  uttering  words  which  should 
have  remained  unspoken. 

"How  is  that?"  asked  the  Prosecutor. 

"Because  it  was  I  who  betrayed  her  and  brought  her 
to  this  wretched  pass.  She  never  could  have  been  sub 
jected  to  such  an  accusation  but  for  the  harm  I  did  her 
years  ago." 

"  Still  I  cannot  see  how  this  interview  is  going  to  help 
the  matter." 

"  Only  this  way,  that  I  am  determined  to  follow  .  .  . 
and  to  marry  her,"  said  Nekhludof.  And  as  usual  when 
ever  he  spoke  of  this  subject  the  tears  stood  in  his  eyes. 

"Is  it  possible?  Is  that  so?"  exclaimed  the  Prose 
cutor.  "  This  certainly  is  a  strange  case !  Very  unusual. 
I  believe  you  are  a  member  of  the  Krasnope*rsk  Zemstvo?" 
he  asked,  as  though  he  suddenly  recalled  this  Nekhliidof 
who  was  making  these  unaccountable  revelations. 

"I  beg  your  pardon;  but  I  fail  to  see  the  connection 
with  my  request,"  replied  Nekhludof,  with  an  angry  flush. 

"Ah,  well,  of  course  there  is  none,"  said  the  Prosecutor, 
nothing  abashed,  and  with  the  shadow  of  a  smile  upon 
his  lip.  "But  your  intention  is  so  unusual  and  extra 
ordinary  ..." 

"Then  may  I  have  the  pass?" 

"The  pass?  Certainly.  I  will  give  you  an  order  of 
admittance  at  once.  Please  take  a  seat." 

He  went  to  his  desk  and  seating  himself  before  it  began 
to  write. 

"Please  be  seated,"  he  repeated. 

Nekhludof  remained  standing. 

Having  written  the  pass  and  handed  it  to  Nekhliidof, 
he  continued  to  gaze  at  him  with  an  expression  of  curios 
ity. 

"I  must  also  inform  you  that  I  can  no  longer  attend 
this  Session." 

"You  will  be  obliged  to  present  valid  reasons  to  the 
Court." 


RESURRECTION  157 

"  My  only  reason  is  that  I  consider  every  Court  not  only 
a  useless  but  an  immoral  institution!" 

"Do  you?"  said  the  Prosecutor,  with  the  same  vague 
smile  on  his  face ;  his  tone  implied  that  he  had  heard  that 
sort  of  thing  before,  and  found  it  rather  amusing.  "  That 
may  be.  But  you  will  hardly  expect  me,  in  my  quality  of 
Prosecutor,  to  agree  with  you.  I  should  advise  you  to 
state  your  case  to  the  Court;  then,  if  your  reasons  are  valid, 
the  Court  will  grant  your  request,  and  if  they  are  not,  it 
will  impose  a  fine.  All  you  have  to  do,  is  to  apply  to  the 
Court." 

"  I  have  stated  my  reasons  here,  and  I  shall  not  go  else 
where,"  said  Nekhludof,  angrily. 

"Good  day,  sir,"  said  the  Prosecutor,  bowing,  rather 
anxious  to  be  rid  of  this  strange  visitor. 

"Who  was  that?"  asked  a  Member  of  the  Court  who 
entered  the  room  just  as  Nekhludof  went  out. 

"  Nekhludof.  Don't  you  remember,  the  same  one  who 
used  to  propose  such  queer  resolutions  in  the  Zemstvo? 
He  is  serving  on  the  jury,  and  there's  a  woman  or  a  girl 
among  the  prisoners  who  was  sentenced  to  penal  servitude. 
He  says  he  has  ruined  her,  and  now  he  wants  to  atone  for 
it  by  marrying  her." 

"Good  gracious!" 

"That's  what  he  says.     He  is  in  a  very  excited  state." 

"There's  something  abnormal  about  all  young  men  in 
these  days." 

"He  is  not  very  young.  I  shouldn't  call  him  a  young 
man." 

"No?  Oh,  I  must  tell  you,  my  dear  fellow,  how  your 
famous  Ivashe'nko  bored  us.  He  will  be  the  death  of  us 
yet!  He  is  an  endless  talker." 

"He  should  be  stopped.  Such  men  as  he  are  nothing 
but  obstructionists.  . " 


iS8  RESURRECTION 


XXXVI. 

NEKHLUDOF  went  directly  from  the  Prosecutor  to  the 
Preliminary  Detention  Prison.  But  no  Maslova  was  to 
be  found  there,  and  the  Superintendent  explained  to 
Nekhludof  that  she  must  be  in  the  old  jail,  where  Nekhlu- 
dof  did  eventually  find  her.  But  such  a  vast  distance 
separated  the  two  prisons  that  it  was  night  before  Nekhlu 
dof  reached  the  jail.  He  was  going  up  to  the  entrance  of 
that  gloomy  building  when  he  was  stopped  by  a  sentry, 
who  rang  the  bell. 

It  was  answered  by  the  warden.  When  Nekhludof 
showed  his  permit,  the  warden  said  he  could  not  admit 
him  without  the  Inspector's  permission. 

On  the  way,  as  he  was  climbing  the  stairs  that  led  to  the 
Inspector's  quarters,  Nekhludof  heard  some  one  playing 
on  the  piano.  The  sound  came  through  a  closed  door, 
but  he  could  distinguish  the  brilliancy  of  the  technique. 
A  sulky  maid  with  a  bandage  over  one  eye  opened  the 
door,  and  the  volume  of  sound  threatened  to  deafen  him. 

It  was  Liszt's  well-known  Rhapsodic,  well  played,  until 
it  reached  a  certain  passage.  Every  time  the  pianist 
reached  this  point  the  same  thing  happened  over  and 
over  again.  Nekhludof  asked  the  maid  if  the  Inspector 
was  in. 

She  replied  in  the  negative. 

"How  soon  will  he  return?" 

The  Rhapsodic  ceased,  only  to  make  a  fresh  start  in 
the  direction  of  the  magic  note. 

"I'll  go  and  ask,"  she  said,  and  away  she  went. 

The  Rhapsodic  began  again  with  all  its  former  bril 
liancy,  but  suddenly  it  came  to  an  abrupt  pause,  and  a 
voice  was  heard  to  say : 

"Tell  him  that  he  is  out  and  won't  be  in  again  to-day. 
He  is  on  a  visit.  Why  do  they  bother  so  ?"  said  a  woman's 
voice  from  behind  the  door,  and  the  Rhapsodic  began 


RESURRECTION  159 

again;  but  the  next  minute  the  music  ceased  and  a  chair 
was  pushed  hastily  back.  Evidently  the  irate  pianist 
was  coming  to  reprimand  the  vexatious  visitor,  in  person. 

"Papa  is  out,"  she  said  in  a  snappish  tone,  as  she  came 
into  the  ante-roorn.  She  looked  pale  and  miserable,  with 
dark  circles  around  her  dull  eyes,  but  her  hair  was  puffed. 
The  sight  of  the  young  man  in  his  fine  clothes  mollified 
her.  "Won't  you  come  in?  What  would  you  like?" 

"I  would  like  to  see  one  of  the  prisoners." 

"A  political  prisoner,   I   suppose?" 

"No;  it  is  not.     I  have  the  Prosecutor's  permit." 

"Well,  I  couldn't  tell  you,  I'm  sure.  Papa  is  out. 
Won't  you  come  in,  please  ?"  she  called  to  him  again  from 
the  little  entry.  "Perhaps  you  might  speak  to  the  Assist 
ant.  He  is  in  the  office  now.  What  name,  please?" 

"  I  thank  you,"  replied  Nekhliidof  and  went  out  with 
out  answering  her  question. 

The  door  had  hardly  closed  upon  him  when  the  same 
gay  and  brilliant  strains  began  again,  so  utterly  out  of 
tune  with  the  place  and  with  the  sickly  girl  who  repro 
duced  them  with  such  untiring  perseverance.  Out  in  the 
yard  Nekhliidof  met  a  young  officer  with  a  stiff  waxed 
mustache,  and  when  he  asked  him  where  he  could  find  the 
Assistant,  he  discovered  that  it  was  the  Assistant  himself 
whom  he  was  addressing.  The  latter,  glancing  at  the  per 
mit,  told  Nekhliidof  that  it  was  made  out  for  the  Prelimi 
nary  Detention  Prison,  and  that  he  was  not  willing  to  take 
the  responsibility  of  admitting  him.  "Besides,  it  is  out 
of  hours.  You  had  better  come  to-morrow.  That  will 
be  public  visiting  day;  ten  o'clock  is  the  hour.  It  will 
be  better  to  come  then,  because  the  Inspector  will  be  at 
home.  You  could  see  the  prisoner  either  in  the  com 
mon  hall  or  in  the  office,  if  the  Inspector  is  willing.'* 

And  so  Nekhludof  went  home  without  seeing  Katiisha 
after  all.  Agitated  by  the  expectation  of  seeing  her  he 
walked  along,  quite  forgetting  the  Court  and  thinking 
only  of  his  conversations  with  the  Prosecutor  and  the  In- 


160  RESURRECTION 

specter's  Assistant.  The  consciousness  that  he  had  been 
trying  to  see  her,  and  had  told  the  Prosecutor  of  his  inten 
tion  and  visited  both  the  jails,  excited  him  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  was  unable  to  calm  himself  for  some  time. 
On  reaching  home  he  at  once  brought  out  his  diary,  —  it 
was  ages  since  he  had  opened  it, — read  over  certain  pas 
sages  and  wrote  down  the  following:  "It  is  two  years 
since  I  last  wrote  in  this  diary,  thinking  then  that  I  should 
never  return  to  such  childishness.  But  it  was  not  child 
ishness;  rather  a  communion  with  one's  own  self,  with 
that  true,  divine  self  which  dwells  in  every  man.  All  this 
while  have  I  slept  and  had  no  one  with  whom  to  commune. 
I  was  awakened  by  a  remarkable  event  which  took  place 
in  Court  on  April  twenty-eighth,  while  I  was  on  the  jury. 
I  saw  her  wrapped  in  a  prison  cloak  standing  in  the  pris 
oners'  dock,  the  very  same  Katusha  I  had  betrayed.  By 
some  strange  oversight,  for  which  I  also  blame  myself  to 
some  extent,  she  was  sentenced  to  penal  servitude.  I 
have  seen  the  Prosecutor  and  have  just  returned  from  the 
jail.  I  could  not  see  her,  but  shall  try  again.  I  am  de 
termined  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  show  her  that  I  repent 
of  my  sin  and  will  atone  for  it  by  marriage,  if  need  be. 
May  God  help  me !  I  feel  at  peace,  and  joy  has  come  into 
my  soul." 

XXXVII. 

THAT  night  Maslova  lay  wide  awake  hour  after  hour, 
gazing  at  the  door,  past  which  the  sub-deacon's  daughter 
kept  pacing  to  and  fro. 

She  was  thinking  that  she  would  never  marry  one  of  the 
Saghalian  convicts;  she  was  sure  to  make  some  better 
settlement  than  that.  One  of  the  officers,  or  some  clerk 
or  warden,  or  warden's  assistant — men  were  all  alike 
where  women  were  about,  "but  I  must  look  out  and  not 
grow  thin,  that  would  be  a  bad  job!"  Then  she  remem 
bered  how  the  lawyer  for  the  defense  and  even  the  Presid- 


RESURRECTION  161 

mg  Justice  himself  stared  at  her,  and  how  other  men  in 
the  Court  House  made  excuses  for  passing  where  she  sat. 
She  remembered  what  Bertha  who  paid  her  a  visit  at  the 
jail  had  told  her  about  the  student  of  whom  she  used  to  be 
so  fond  when  she  lived  at  Madam  Kitaev's. 

He  came  there  after  she  went  away,  inquired  for  her, 
and  said  that  he  was  sorry  for  her.  Then  the  fight  with 
the  red-haired  woman  came  into  her  mind,  and  she  pitied 
the  poor  creature ;  and  she  thought  of  the  baker  who  had 
sent  her  an  extra  kaldtch.  She  thought  of  many  people, 
but  never  once  of  Nekhludof.  To  her  childhood  and 
youth  and  her  love  for  Nekhludof  she  never  gave  a  thought. 
It  was  too  painful.  Those  memories  were  buried  deep  in 
her  soul,  and  she  never  disturbed  them.  She  never  even 
dreamed  of  Nekhludof.  To-day  during  the  trial  she  had 
not  recognized  him ;  and  this  was  not  because  that  bearded 
man  advancing  towards  middle  age  had  worn  the  military 
uniform  and  been  a  beardless  youth  with  but  a  slight  mus 
tache  and  closely  curling  hair  when  she  had  seen  him  last, 
but  simply  because  she  never  thought  of  him.  She  had 
buried  all  her  memories  of  the  past  in  connection  with  him 
and  with  that  awful  night  when  he  passed  through  the 
place  and  never  came  to  see  his  aunts.  That  was  when 
he  was  on  his  way  home  from  the  war. 

Until  that  night  she  had  hoped  to  see  him;  the  child 
she  carried  had  never  been  a  burden  to  her;  its  gentle 
movements  were  like  a  loving  touch  laid  on  her  heart  to 
soothe  its  longing.  But  from  that  night  everything  was 
changed,  and  the  child  itself  became  a  stumbling  block. 

The  aunts  had  looked  for  Nekhludof;  they  had  begged 
him  to  stop  over,  but  he  telegraphed  that  it  would  be  im 
possible,  because  he  must  be  in  Petersburg  at  a  stated 
time.  When  Katusha  found  this  out,  she  made  up  her 
mind  to  see  him  at  the  station.  The  train  was  due  to 
pass  the  station  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  After 
helping  the  ladies  to  prepare  for  the  night,  she  put  on  her 
old  shoes,  tied  a  kerchief  over  her  head,  and  taking  little 

VOL.   I. — II 


162  RESURRECTION 

Mdshka,  the  cook's  daughter,  for  company,  she  picked 
up  her  skirts  and  started  for  the  station. 

It  was  a  windy  and  cloudy  night  in  autumn,  with  occa 
sional  showers.  It  was  dark  enough  underfoot  crossing 
the  field,  and  darker  still  in  the  woods.  Though  Katusha 
knew  the  road,  she  missed  her  way  and  arrived  at  the 
little  station  where  the  train  only  stops  three  minutes,  not 
in  season  as  she  had  planned,  but  after  the  second  bell 
had  already  rung.  As  she  hurried  up  the  platform  she 
saw  Nekhliidof  through  the  window  of  a  first-class  com 
partment.  It  was  brilliantly  lighted  inside  and  two  offi 
cers  seated  on  velvet  chairs  opposite  each  other  were 
playing  cards.  On  the  small  table  near  the  window  stood 
two  thick,  dripping  candles.  In  his  close-fitting  riding 
trousers  and  white  shirt  Nekhludof  sat  on  the  arm  of  the 
chair,  leaning  against  its  back;  he  was  laughing  heartily. 
As  soon  as  she  saw  him  she  raised  her  hand,  benumbed 
with  the  cold,  and  tapped  upon  the  window.  At  that 
instant  the  third  bell  was  rung  and  the  train  started; 
slowly  backing  at  first  and  then  lurching  suddenly  for 
ward,  the  carriages  with  more  or  less  bumping  began  to 
move  on. 

One  of  the  players  rose,  cards  in  hand,  and  looked  out. 
She  knocked  again,  putting  her  face  close  to  the  glass. 
At  that  moment  the  carriage  beside  which  she  stood  was 
jerked  forward.  She  walked  beside  it,  gazing  in  at  the 
window.  The  officer  tried  to  lower  the  glass  but  without 
success. 

Nekhliidof  rose,  and  pushing  the  officer  aside,  began 
lowering  it  himself.  Meanwhile  the  train  had  increased 
its  speed  so  that  now  Katusha  had  to  walk  briskly,  and 
just  as  the  window  was  finally  lowered  the  guard  pushed 
her  aside  and  jumped  in.  She  was  left  behind,  but  she 
went  on,  running  along  the  wet  boards  of  the  platform  till 
she  reached  the  end  of  it.  Here  she  almost  pitched  head 
long  to  the  ground,  as  she  hurried  down  the  steps,  run 
ning  all  the  while ;  but  the  first-class  carriage  was  already 


RESURRECTION  163 

far  away.  The  second-class  and  third-class  carriages  had 
passed  her,  and  still  she  ran,  so  that  when  the  last  car 
with  lanterns  in  the  rear  had  passed  by,  she  was  beyond 
the  water-power  building,  beyond  any  shelter.  The  wind 
seized  her  kerchief  and  tore  it  from  her  head;  it  whirled 
her  skirts  about,  twisting  them  about  her  legs.  And  still 
she  ran. 

"Aunty  Mikhailovna!"  shouted  the  girl,  running  after 
her,  "you  have  lost  your  kerchief." 

Katiisha  stopped,  threw  back  her  head,  and  clutching 
it  with  both  hands,  burst  into  sobs. 

"Gone!"  she  cried. 

"He  — sitting  on  a  velvet  chair,  laughing  and  drinking 
and  making  merry,  I  —  crying  out  here  in  the  dark  and 
the  mud,  the  rain  coming  down  and  the  wind  blowing!" 
She  paused  to  think  and  seating  herself  on  the  ground 
sobbed  so  loudly,  that  the  little  girl  was  frightened  and 
put  her  arms  around  her,  wet  as  she  was. 

"Let's  go  home,  aunty!" 

"Oh,  to  end  it  all  under  the  wheels  of  the  next  train!" 
thought  Katiisha,  making  no  reply  to  the  little  girl. 

Yes,  that  is  what  she  would  do.  But,  as  often  happens 
in  the  first  moments  of  a  lull  after  great  emotions,  she 
felt  the  stirring  of  the  child,  his  child,  which  she  was 
carrying.  And  all  at  once  everything  that  had  so  tortured 
her  only  a  moment  ago  that  life  seemed  worthless,  all  her 
bitterness  towards  him,  and  the  desire  to  revenge  herself, 
even  at  the  expense  of  her  own  life,  disappeared.  She 
grew  calm,  got  up,  arranged  her  dress,  tied  the  kerchief 
over  her  head,  and  started  for  home. 

She  returned  wet,  muddy,  and  exhausted;  and  from 
that  day  dated  the  steady  degeneration  of  her  moral 
nature,  until  she  became  the  creature  in  the  prison  cell. 
After  that  dreadful  night  she  lost  her  faith  in  God  and  in 
goodness.  Once  she  had  believed  in  Him  and  thought 
that  others  did  too,  but  since  then  she  had  become  con 
vinced  that  no  one  really  believed  in  Him,  and  that  all 


164  RESURRECTION 

that  was  said  of  Him  and  His  law,  was  only  trickery  and 
deception.  The  man  she  loved  and  who  had  once  loved 
her — she  was  sure  of  that — had  abandoned  her,  and 
trampled  upon  her  feelings.  And  yet  he  was  the  best 
man  she  had  ever  known.  The  others  had  been  far 
worse;  everything  that  had  happened  to  her  since  then 
confirmed  her  in  this  belief.  The  pious  aunts  drove  her 
out  of  their  house  when  she  could  no  longer  serve  them 
as  she  had  formerly.  All  the  people  with  whom  she  had 
any  dealings  wanted  to  take  advantage  of  her  in  one  way 
or  another.  The  men,  from  the  old  Stanovoy  to  the  prison 
wardens,  regarded  her  as  an  instrument  of  pleasure, 
while  the  women  took  all  the  money  they  could  from  her. 
No  one  cared  for  anything  else  in  the  world.  Her  friend, 
the  old  author  whom  she  had  known  during  the  second 
year  of  her  life  of  independence,  had  strengthened  her  in 
this  belief.  He  told  her  plainly  that  there  was  no  other 
happiness.  He  called  it  poetry  and  estheticism. 

Every  one  lived  for  himself  and  his  own  pleasure,  and 
all  that  had  been  said  about  God  and  goodness  was  a 
fraud. 

People  would  sometimes  wonder  why  everything  was 
so  at  odds  in  this  world,  why  men  must  suffer,  and  be  so 
wicked  and  harm  each  other  so;  for  her  part  she  thought 
it  better  not  to  think  about  such  things.  If  she  felt  sad 
it  was  a  good  idea  to  take  a  drink  or  a  smoke,  or  better 
still  to  love  some  man;  then  all  sadness  would  vanish. 

XXXVIII.     • 

WHEN,  on  Sunday  morning  at  five  o'clock,  the  usual 
whistle  sounded  through  the  corridor  of  the  women's 
ward,  Korablova,  who  was  already  up,  woke  Maslova. 

"I'm  a  convict,"  thought  Maslova,  rubbing  her  eyes 
and  gasping  in  the  foul  morning  air  of  the  close  room. 
She  was  still  sleepy,  but  fear  overpowered  her  desire  to 
sleep;  she  sat  up  in  her  bunk  with  her  feet  drawn  under 


RESURRECTION  165 

her  and  began  to  look  about  the  room.  Most  of  the 
women  were  up,  but  the  children  were  still  sleeping. 
The  liquor  dealer  with  staring  eyes  was  pulling  out  the 
prison  cloak  from  beneath  the  children  very  gently  so  as 
not  to  awaken  them.  The  rebel  was  drying  the  rags  that 
served  as  swaddling  clothes,  while  the  baby  was  crying 
lustily  in  the  arms  of  blue-eyed  Fedosya,  who  rocked  him 
to  and  fro  as  she  sang  a  tender  lullaby.  The  consumptive, 
with  flushed  face,  held  on  to  her  chest,  and  sighed  loudly 
now  and  then,  almost  screaming  in  the  intervals  of  cough 
ing.  The  woman  with  the  red  hair  was  lying  on  her  back 
with  her  knees  in  the  air  cheerfully  telling  her  dream. 

The  old  woman  accused  of  arson  was  again  standing 
before  the  ikon  and  whispering  the  same  prayer,  bowing 
and  crossing  herself.  The  sub-deacon's  daughter  sat 
motionless  in  the  bunk,  with  a  dull,  sleepy  expression  in 
her  eyes,  gazing  at  vacancy.  Horoshavka  was  curling 
her  coarse  black,  greasy  hair  over  her  finger. 

Scuffling  footsteps  echoed  along  the  corridor,  the  pad 
lock  rattled,  and  two  convict-scavengers  in  short  jackets 
and  trousers  that  hardly  reached  to  their  ankles,  entered 
the  room.  With  cross  and  sulky  faces  they  lifted  the  foul- 
smelling  tub  on  to  the  yoke  and  carried  it  away.  The 
women  then  went  out  into  the  entry  to  the  wash-tanks. 
Here  again  a  quarrel  broke  out  between  the  red-headed 
woman  and  one  who  came  from  another  cell.  Shouts, 
invectives,  and  complaints  rang  through  the  entry .... 

"You  want  to  get  locked  up,  do  you!"  shouted  the 
warden,  giving  her  a  slap  on  her  fat  back  that  resounded 
from  one  end  of  the  corridor  to  the  other.  "  Don 't  let  me 
hear  your  voice  again!" 

"  I'll  be  hanged  if  the  old  man  isn't  trying  to  be  funny!" 
said  the  red-headed  woman,  mistaking  his  blow  for  a 
caress. 

"Now,  then,  hurry  and  get  ready  for  Mass." 

Maslova  had  hardly  finished  combing  her  hair  when 
the  Inspector  entered.  "Call  the  roll!"  he  cried. 


i66  RESURRECTION 

Other  prisoners  came  out  from  their  cells,  forming  two 
lines  along  the  corridor,  the  women  in  the  rear  line 
placing  their  hands  on  the  shoulders  of  those  in  the  front 
one,  while  they  were  counted. 

After  the  roll-call  they  were  led  to  church  by  the  woman 
warden.  Mdslova  and  Feddsya  were  in  the  middle  of  a 
column  which  was  made  up  of  more  than  one  hundred 
women.  All  wore  white  kerchiefs,  sacks,  and  skirts, 
except  a  few  women,  here  and  there,  in  colored  garments. 
These  women  were  the  wives  and  children  of  convicts, 
who  were  to  follow  their  husbands  and  fathers  into  exile. 
The  entire  stairway  was  filled  with  this  procession.  The 
soft  patter  of  the  slippered  feet  rose  even  above  the  voices 
and  the  occasional  laughter.  At  the  turning,  M£slova 
perceived  the  sulky  face  of  her  enemy  Botchkdva,  who 
was  at  the  head  of  the  column,  and  pointed  her  out  to 
Fed6sya.  When  they  reached  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  the 
women  became  silent  and  crossing  themselves  and  bow 
ing,  passed  through  the  open  door  of  the  still  empty 
church  all  glittering  with  gold.  They  began  crowding 
into  their  places  on  the  right,  and  then  came  the  men 
dressed  in  the  long,  loose  gray  convict  sack.  Some  of 
them  were  serving  brief  terms,  while  others  were  to  be 
banished  in  conformity  with  the  decisions  of  their  village 
communes. 

Coughing  loudly,  they  took  up  their  position  on  the  left 
and  in  the  center,  forming  one  solid  mass.  The  gallery 
was  already  occupied,  one  side  by  convicts  with  half- 
shaved  heads,  who  made  their  presence  known  by  the 
clanking  of  their  chains,  and  the  other  by  prisoners  whose 
cases  had  not  yet  been  tried.  These  were  not  shaved  and 
they  wore  no  chains. 

The  prison  church  was  a  recent  structure,  built  and 
decorated  by  the  generosity  of  a  rich  merchant,  who  had 
given  some  tens  of  thousands  of  roubles  for  the  purpose. 
It  glistened  with  gold  and  bright  colors. 

For  a  time  the  silence  in  the  church  was  broken  only 


RESURRECTION  167 

by  the  coughing,  the  blowing  of  noses,  the  crying  of  babies, 
and  now  and  then  the  clanking  of  chains.  Presently  the 
prisoners  who  stood  in  the  middle  crowded  towards  one 
side,  making  room  for  the  Inspector,  who  walked  in  and 
took  his  place  in  front  of  them  all  in  the  middle  of  the 
church. 

XXXIX. 

THE  service  began. 

This  is  the  way  it  was  conducted :  The  priest,  robed  in  a 
very  peculiar  and  inconvenient  garment  made  of  cloth  of 
gold,  cut  and  arranged  small  pieces  of  bread  on  a  saucer; 
these  he  put  into  a  vessel  filled  with  wine,  at  the  same 
time  uttering  various  names  and  prayers.  Meanwhile  the 
sub-deacon  kept  on  steadily  reading  prayers  and  then 
singing  them  antiphonally  with  a  choir  composed  of 
prisoners;  these  prayers  were  in  the  Slavonic  tongue, 
difficult  enough  to  understand  at  any  time,  and  made  still 
more  so  by  the  rapidity  of  the  reading  and  singing.  They 
were  chiefly  supplications  in  behalf  of  the  Sovereign  and 
his  family.  Their  welfare  was  implored  in  prayer  after 
prayer,  either  in  the  form  of  a  special  petition,  or  included 
in  other  prayers.  Some  of  these  prayers  were  repeated 
while  they  knelt.  Then  the  sub-deacon  read  several 
verses  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  in  such  a  strained 
tone  of  voice  that  nothing  could  be  understood;  next  the 
priest  read  very  distinctly  that  portion  of  the  Gospel 
according  to  Mark  wherein  we  are  told  that  Christ,  having 
risen  from  the  dead,  before  flying  up  to  heaven  to  sit  on 
the  right  hand  of  His  Father  appeared  first  to  Mary 
Magdalene,  from  whom  he  had  driven  out  seven  devils, 
and  then  to  eleven  of  the  apostles,  and  ordered  them  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  all  creatures,  saying  that  he  who  will 
not  believe,  shall  be  lost,  and  he  who  believeth  and  is 
baptized  shall  be  saved,  and  shall,  moreover,  have  power 
to  cast  out  devils,  to  heal  men  from  diseases  by  the  laying 


i68  RESURRECTION 

on  of  hands,  to  speak  new  tongues,  to  handle  serpents, 
and  if  he  were  to  drink  poison  he  shall  not  die,  but  remain 
unharmed. 

The  essence  of  the  service  consisted  in  the  presumption 
that  the  small  pieces  of  bread  cut  by  the  priest  and  dipped 
in  the  wine,  accompanied  by  certain  manipulations  and 
prayers,  became  the  body  and  blood  of  God.  These 
manipulations  consisted  in  the  priest's  raising  his  arms 
at  stated  intervals  and,  encumbered  as  he  was  with  his 
gold  cloth  sack,  keeping  them  in  this  attitude,  kneeling 
from  time  to  time  and  kissing  the  table1  and  all  objects 
upon  it.  But  the  principal  act  was  when  the  priest, 
having  taken  the  napkin2  in  both  hands,  evenly  and 
methodically  waved  it  over  the  saucer3  and  the  golden 
cup.4  This  was  supposed  to  be  the  moment  when  the 
bread  and  wine  are  transformed  into  the  body  and  blood, 
and  therefore  this  part  of  the  service  was  performed  with 
special  solemnity. 

"To  the  holy,  pure,  and  blessed  Mother  of  God!"  the 
voice  of  the  priest  rang  out  from  behind  the  partition, 
and  the  choir  solemnly  chanted  that  it  was  good  to  glorify 
the  Virgin  Mary  who  had  given  birth  to  Christ,  and  still 
remained  a  virgin,  and  who  therefore  should  be  exalted 
above  certain  cherubim  and  seraphim.  Then  the  trans 
formation  was  considered  accomplished,  and  the  priest 
having  removed  the  napkin  from  the  saucer  cut  the  middle 
piece  of  bread  into  four  parts  and  placed  it  first  in  the 
wine  and  next  in  his  own  mouth.  He  was  supposed  to 
have  swallowed  a  particle  of  the  body  of  the  Lord  and  to 
have  drunk  a  portion  of  His  blood.  Then  the  priest  drew 
aside  a  curtain,  opened  the  middle  door,  and  taking  the 
golden  cup  in  his  hands,  came  forth  from  the  door  and 
stood  before  the  people,  inviting  those  who  wished  to 
come  and  partake  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord, 
which  were  in  that  cup. 

i  Altar.  *  Corporate.  3  Paten.  4  Chalice. 


RESURRECTION  169 

Only  children  responded  to  the  invitation.  Having 
asked  them  their  names,  the  priest  dipped  the  spoon  into 
the  cup,  and  carefully  deposited  a  piece  of  bread  dipped 
in  wine  in  the  mouth  of  each  child,  in  turn,  taking  pains 
to  put  the  spoon  as  far  in  as  he  could,  while  the  sub- 
deacons,  wiping  their  lips  merrily,  sang  a  song  about  the 
children  eating  the  body  of  the  Lord  and  drinking  His 
blood.  Then  the  priest  took  the  cup  back  with  him 
behind  the  partition  and  having  finished  what  remained 
of  the  body  of  the  Lord  and  drunk  His  blood,  he  carefully 
wiped  his  mouth  and  beard,  as  well  as  the  cup,  and  in  the 
most  cheerful  manner,  his  boots  creaking  slightly  as  he 
walked,  came  briskly  out  from  behind  the  partition. 
Now  the  most  important  part  of  this  Christian  service 
was  over.  But  a  special  service  for  the  consolation  of  the 
prisoners  was  now  added.  The  priest,  standing  in  front 
of  an  ikon  illumined  by  a  score  of  lighted  tapers  and 
covered  with  hammered  gold,  which  showed  only  the 
blackened  hands  and  face  that  were  meant  to  represent 
the  same  Lord  of  whose  body  he  had  just  partaken,  in  a 
strained  and  falsetto  voice,  half  singing,  half  speaking, 
recited  the  following  words:  "Sweetest  Jesus,  Glory  of 
the  Apostles,  Strength  of  Martyrs,  Almighty  Lord,  have 
mercy  on  me,  Jesus  have  mercy  on  me;  Jesus  Light  of  my 
soul,  unto  Thee  I  flee,  save  me,  Jesus,  and  have  mercy  on 
me  through  the  prayers  of  all  Thy  Saints,  O  Thou 
Prophet  of  all,  save  me,  Jesus,  and  grant  me  the  joys  of 
paradise,  O  Thou  Jesus,  lover  of  mankind!" 

He  paused,  took  breath,  crossed  himself  and  bowed  to 
the  ground.  All  did  likewise :  the  Inspector,  the  wardens, 
and  the  prisoners  in  the  gallery  with  their  clanking  chains. 
He  continued:  "Creator  of  Angels  and  Lord  of  Hosts, 
Jesus  most  Wonderful,  Marvel  of  Angels,  Jesus  Omnip 
otent,  the  Saviour  of  our  forefathers,  Jesus  most  Amiable, 
Glory  of  Patriarchs,  Jesus  most  Glorious,  Strength  of 
Sovereigns,  Jesus  most  Merciful,  Fulfilment  of  Prophe 
cies,  Jesus  most  Wonderful,  Strength  of  Martyrs,  Jesus 


i  yo  RESURRECTION 

meek  and  humble  of  heart,  Joy  of  Religious,  Jesus  Gra 
cious,  Comfort  of  the  Clergy,  Jesus  most  Charitable,  Con 
tinence  of  those  who  fast,  Jesus  most  Amiable,  Joy  of 
Saints,  Jesus  most  pure,  Chastity  of  Virgins,  Jesus  the 
Eternal  Saviour  of  Sinners,  Jesus,  Son  of  God,  have  mercy 
on  me,"  and  so  on,  laying  more  and  more  stress  on  the 
word  "  Jesus"  until  he  reached  the  end.  Then,  lifting  his 
silk-lined  vestment  with  one  hand,  he  knelt,  bowing  to 
the  ground,  while  the  choir  chanted  the  last  words, 
"  Jesus,  Son  of  God,  have  mercy  on  me!"  The  prisoners 
fell  upon  their  knees  and  rose  again,  tossing  back  the  hair 
from  the  unshaved  portion  of  their  heads  and  clanking 
the  fetters  that  chafed  their  thin  legs. 

This  continued  for  a  long  time.  First  came  lauds, 
ending  always  with  the  words  "Have  Mercy  on  me," 
followed  by  others  ending  with  the  word  "Hallelujah." 
In  the  beginning  the  prisoners  had  crossed  themselves  and 
bowed  to  the  ground  at  every  pause,  but  as  the  priest 
went  on,  their  genuflections  diminished  in  frequency, 
now  and  then  omitting  a  pause  altogether,  and  when  the 
lauds  ended  and  the  priest  with  a  sigh  of  relief  closed  his 
prayer-book  and  withdrew  behind  the  partition,  they 
were  all  glad  to  have  it  over. 

But  there  was  still  one  more  ceremony  to  be  performed, 
and  this  consisted  in  the  priest's  taking  the  large  gold 
cross  with  its  enameled  medallions  at  each  end  that  lay 
on  the  table,  and  carrying  it  into  the  middle  of  the  church. 
The  inspector  kissed  it  first,  then  the  warden,  and  lastly 
the  prisoners  came  crowding  one  upon  another  with 
fiercely  whispered  vituperations.  Talking  all  the  while 
with  the  Inspector,  the  priest  thrust  out  the  cross  and  his 
own  hand  so  carelessly  that  the  prisoners  as  they  drew 
near  were  often  struck  upon  the  nose  or  the  mouth  as 
they  tried  to  kiss  both  the  cross  and  his  hand.  Thus 
ended  that  Christian  service,  performed  for  the  comfort 
and  edification  of  these  lost  sheep. 


RESURRECTION  171 


XL. 

AND  not  one  among  those  who  were  present,  from  the 
priest  and  the  Inspector  down  to  Maslova,  seemed  to  be 
aware  that  this  same  Jesus  whom  the  priest  had  lauded 
with  so  many  queer  words,  and  whose  name  was  uttered 
by  him  so  many  times  and  with  such  emphasis,  had 
expressly  forbidden  all  that  had  been  going  on  here;  not 
only  the  senseless  volubility  and  the  blasphemous  incan 
tations  of  the  priest  over  the  wine  and  the  bread,  but  had 
most  positively  forbidden  one  man  to  call  another  master, 
had  forbidden  all  worship  in  temples,  commanding  every 
man  to  pray  in  solitude,  had  forbidden  the  very  temples 
themselves,  declaring  that  he  had  come  to  destroy  them, 
and  that  men  were  to  pray  not  in  temples  but  in  spirit  and 
in  truth;  but  above  all  the  rest,  had  he  forbidden  human 
judgments  and  the  imprisonment  of  men,  or  their  sub 
jection  to  the  shame,  torture,  or  death  which  was  visited 
on  them  in  this  place.  He  had  forbidden  violence  in  all 
its  forms  and  had  proclaimed  that  he  set  the  captive  free. 

Not  a  man  present  suspected  that  all  this  was  a  sacri 
legious  mockery  of  that  same  Christ  in  whose  name  it 
was  committed.  No  one  realized  that  this  gilded  cross 
tipped  with  enameled  medallions  which  the  priest  pre 
sented  to  the  lips  of  the  people,  was  but  the  emblem  of 
that  gibbet  on  which  Christ  had  died  because  he  had  for 
bidden  the  same  sort  of  worship  which  men  carried  on 
here  in  his  name.  No  one  suspected  that  the  priests  who 
imagined  they  were  eating  the  body  and  drinking  the 
blood  of  Christ,  were  indeed  eating  and  drinking  to  their 
damnation,  by  destroying  those  "little  ones"  with  whom 
Christ  identified  himself,  by  depriving  them  of  their 
natural  blessings  and  subjecting  them  to  terrible  tortures 
and  by  concealing  from  them  the  good  tidings  he  came 
into  the  world  to  announce. 

The  priest  performed  his  functions  with  an  easy  con- 


1 72  RESURRECTION 

science,  because  he  had  been  brought  up  from  childhood 
to  believe  that  this  was  the  only  true  faith.  All  the  saints 
that  had  ever  lived,  the  state  authorities,  and  the  clergy 
themselves  held  that  faith.  Of  course  he  didn't  really 
believe  that  bread  and  wine  became  flesh  and  blood  or 
that  it  was  good  for  the  soul  to  say  so  many  words,  or  that 
he  had  indeed  swallowed  a  particle  of  the  Lord,  —  no  one 
could  believe  that, — but  he  thought  it  was  his  duty  to 
maintain  that  creed. 

One  of  the  most  persuasive  arguments  in  favor  of  this 
faith  of  his  was,  that  for  eighteen  years  he  had  received 
in  reward  for  his  services  an  income  sufficient  to  support 
his  family  and  educate  his  children.  The  sub-deacon 
was  even  more  firmly  convinced,  for  though  he  had  alto 
gether  forgotten  even  the  essence  of  the  dogmas  of  this 
creed,  he  remembered  that  for  the  warm  wine,  for  prayers 
for  the  dead,  for  reading  the  psalms,  for  a  plain  Te  Deum 
or  for  a  Te  Deum  with  an  acathistus,  for  everything  in 
short,  there  was  a  fixed  price,  which  devout  Christians 
are  ready  to  pay,  and  that  was  why  he  chanted  his  "  Have 
mercy,  have  mercy,"  and  read  what  he  had  to  read  as  a 
matter  of  course,  just  as  another  man  has  to  sell  wood  or 
flour  or  potatoes.  The  Chief  Warden  and  his  assistants, 
although  they  had  never  known  or  understood  what  the 
dogmas  of  this  faith  really  were  or  the  significance  of  all 
the  church  ceremonial,  all  thought  that  a  man  ought  to 
believe  that  creed,  because  the  state  authorities  and  the 
Czar  himself  believed  it.  Moreover,  they  felt — although 
they  could  never  explain  why  —  that  this  creed  justified 
their  cruel  duties.  If  there  had  been  no  such  creed  it 
would  have  been  harder  for  them,  nay,  it  would  have 
been  impossible,  to  use  all  their  energy  in  tormenting 
men,  as  they  were  doing  now  with  an  easy  conscience. 
The  Inspector  was  such  a  kind-hearted  man,  he  never 
could  have  gone  on  living,  if  he  had  not  been  sustained 
by  his  religion.  So  he  stood  erect  and  motionless,  or 
crossed  himself  and  made  his  devout  genuflections,  and 


RESURRECTION  173 

tried  to  feel  a  sensible  devotion  when  the  Cherubim  Song 
was  sung.  When  the  priest  began  to  administer  the 
Communion  to  the  children,  he  took  a  few  steps  forward 
and  himself  lifted  a  small  boy  and  held  the  little  fellow  in 
his  arms  while  the  priest  administered  the  Sacrament. 

Most  of  the  prisoners — there  were  a  few  exceptions, 
men  who  were  able  to  discern  the  deception  that  was  prac 
tised  on  the  people  by  this  creed,  and  who  laughed  at  it 
in  the  secrecy  of  their  souls, — most  of  them  believed  that 
those  gilded  ikons,  tapers,  chalices,  vestments,  and  crosses, 
and  the  repetition  of  those  unintelligible  words,  "  Sweetest 
Jesus,"  "Have  Mercy,"  possessed  a  mysterious  power 
which  was  an  open  sesame  to  the  goods  of  this  life  and 
those  of  the  world  to  come.  Although  most  of  them  had 
tried  the  efficacy  of  prayer  for  obtaining  the  goods  of  this 
life,  offering  Te  Deums  and  candles,  and  had  been  disap 
pointed,  yet  each  one  still  firmly  believed  it  was  just  a 
mere  chance,  and  that  an  institution  approved  by  learned 
men  and  Archbishops  must  be  a  most  important  one, 
indispensable  for  the  next  world,  if  not  for  this  one. 

Maslova  believed  all  that.  Like  the  rest  of  them  her 
feelings  during  the  service  had  been  a  combination  of 
devotion  and  weariness.  At  first  she  had  stood  in  the 
middle  of  the  crowd,  behind  the  partition,  and  could  see 
no  one  except  her  companions;  but  when  the  communi 
cants  began  to  move  forward,  she  and  Fedosya  stepped 
forward  too,  and  then  she  saw  the  Inspector  and  the 
wardens,  and  standing  near  them  was  Fedosya's  husband, 
a  peasant  with  light  beard  and  chestnut  hair,  who  never 
took  his  eyes  off  his  wife ;  —  Maslova  during  the  acathis- 
tus  busied  herself  watching  him  and  whispering  to 
Fedosya,  making  a  mechanical  sign  of  the  cross,  or  genu 
flecting  when  the  others  did  so. 


174  RESURRECTION 


XLL 

NEKHLUDOF  left  the  house  in  the  early  morning.  A 
peasant  from  the  country  was  driving  along  one  of  the 
side  streets  crying,  "Milk,  milk,  milk!"  in  the  voice  pe 
culiar  to  his  trade.  Yesterday  had  been  the  first  warm, 
rainy  day,  and  wherever  the  streets  were  not  paved,  the 
grass,  already  started,  had  begun  to  turn  green;  the  birches 
in  the  gardens  looked  as  if  they  were  covered  with  green 
down;  the  wild  cherry  trees  and  the  poplars  were  unfold 
ing  their  long,  fragrant  leaves,  and  on  every  hand  house 
keepers  and  tradesmen  were  taking  off  double  windows 
and  washing  them. 

As  Nekhludof  passed  the  Tolkutchi  Market,  a  dense 
crowd  was  surging  along  its  line  of  booths,  and  ragged 
men  with  boots  tucked  under  their  arms,  and  pressed 
trousers  and  waistcoats  hanging  over  their  shoulders,  were 
walking  up  and  down.  Men  free  from  their  factories 
on  this  day,  in  clean  sleeveless  coats  and  shining  boots, 
women  with  bright  silk  shawls  over  their  heads  and  jack 
ets  embroidered  with  beads,  were  crowding  around  the  ale 
houses.  Policemen,  with  the  yellow  cords  to  which  their 
pistols  are  attached,  were  stationed  here  and  there,  on  the 
lookout  for  a  scrimmage,  which  might  help  to  enliven 
their  weariness.  Along  the  paths  of  the  boulevard  and  on 
its  fresh  green  lawn,  children  and  dogs  were  running 
about,  while  the  lively  nurses  gossiped  together,  sitting 
on  the  benches. 

The  streets,  still  cool  and  damp  in  the  shade  on  the  left- 
iiand  side,  were  quite  dry  in  the  middle,  where  heavy 
teams,  light  droshkies,  and  street-cars  thundered  and  rat 
tled  and  rang  with  never  a  pause  between.  The  air 
vibrated  with  the  clangor  of  church  bells  calling  the  people 
to  a  service  like  the  one  that  was  now  going  on  in  the 
prison.  And  the  people  in  their  Sunday  clothes  were  on 
their  way  to  their  respective  parish  churches. 


RESURRECTION  175 

The  izvdstchik  drove  Nekhlildof ,  not  to  the  prison  itself. 
but  to  the  turning  which  led  to  it. 

Several  men  and  women,  most  of  them  carrying  bun 
dles,  were  waiting  at  this  spot,  about  one  hundred  paces 
from  the  jail.  To  the  right  were  a  few  low  wooden  build 
ings,  and  to  the  left  a  one-story  house  with  a  sign  above 
it.  The  massive  stone  jail  faced  them,  but  visitors  were 
not  allowed  to  come  very  near  it.  An  armed  sentinel, 
pacing  backwards  and  forwards,  shouted  harshly  at 
those  who  tried  to  pass  him.  On  the  right  hand,  near 
the  small  gate  of  the  wooden  buildings,  a  warden  in  his 
strapped  uniform  was  sitting  on  a  bench.  In  his  hand 
he  held  a  note-book,  and  as  the  visitors  came  to  him  and 
told  the  names  of  the  persons  they  wished  to  see,  he  wrote 
them  down.  Nekhliidof  went  up  and  named  Katerina 
Maslova.  The  warden  with  the  straps  wrote  it  down. 

"Why  don't  they  admit  us  now?"  asked  Nekhliidof. 

"The  service  is  still  going  on." 

As  Nekhliidof  went  back  and  joined  the  waiting  crowd, 
a  man  all  tattered  and  torn,  with  a  battered  hat  and  peas 
ant  shoes  on  his  stockingless  feet,  his  face  covered  with 
scars,  detached  himself  from  the  crowd  and  started  to 
wards  the  prison. 

"Where  are  you  bound?"  shouted  the  soldier  with  the 
gun. 

"What  makes  you  yell  so  loud?"  replied  the  ragged 
but  unabashed  individual,  coolly  turning  back.  "If  I 
can't  go  in  now,  I  can  wait.  Just  hear  him  shout,  you'd 
think  he  was  a  general!" 

An  approving  laugh  was  heard  among  the  crowd. 
Most  of  the  visitors  were  poorly  clad,  even  raggedly;  still 
there  were  respectably  dressed  ones  among  them.  One 
man,  neatly  shaved  and  well  dressed,  a  stout  fellow  with 
rosy  cheeks,  who  carried  a  bundle  in  his  hand  that  looked 
as  if  it  might  contain  underclothing,  stood  beside  Nekhlii 
dof.  The  latter  spoke  to  him  and  asked  him  if  this  was 
his  first  visit.  The  man  with  the  bundle  replied  that 


176  RESURRECTION 

he  had  been  coming  here  every  Sunday,  and  so  they  fell 
to  talking.  He  was  the  door-keeper  of  a  bank,  and  he 
came  here  to  see  his  brother,  who  was  to  be  tried  for  forg 
ery.  This  friendly  fellow  told  Nekhludof  his  whole  his 
tory,  and  in  his  turn  was  about  to  question  the  latter, 
when  their  attention  was  attracted  by  the  arrival  of  a 
University  student  and  a  veiled  lady,  who  came  in  a  rub 
ber-tired  droshky,  drawn  by  a  black  thoroughbred.  The 
student  carried  a  large  bundle.  He  approached  Nekhlii- 
dof  and  asked  him  whether  it  were  permissible  or  if  he 
knew  what  had  to  be  done  in  order  to  give  this  package 
of  kalatchi  which  he  had  brought  to  be  distributed  among 
the  prisoners. 

"This  is  the  wish  of  my  fiancee,  who  is  with  me.  Her 
parents  advised  us  to  bring  these  kalatchi  to  the 
prisoners." 

"I  have  never  been  here  before;  but  I  think  you  may 
inquire  of  this  man,"  replied  Nekhludof,  pointing  to  the 
warden  with  the  straps  and  the  book,  who  was  sitting 
there  to  the  right. 

While  Nekhludof  was  talking  with  the  student,  those 
large  iron  doors  with  the  window  in  the  middle  were 
opened  and  an  officer  in  uniform,  accompanied  by  another 
warden,  came  out,  and  the  warden  with  the  note-book 
announced  that  the  visitors  would  now  be  admitted.  The 
sentinel  stepped  aside,  and  the  visitors  started  for  the 
prison  door,  as  if  afraid  of  getting  belated,  some  walking 
briskly,  others  actually  running.  One  of  the  wardens 
stood  by  the  door,  and  as  the  people  passed  him  he  counted 
them  in  a  loud  voice:  sixteen,  seventeen,  etc.  Another 
warden,  inside  the  building,  touching  each  person  as  he 
came  in,  counted  them  all  over  again,  as  they  went 
through  the  second  door,  so  that  when  they  came  out  one 
reckoning  would  verify  the  other,  and  no  visitor  could 
stay  in  the  prison,  nor  could  any  prisoner  get  out.  The 
man  who  counted  them,  without  looking  at  those  who 
passed,  slapped  Nekhludof  on  the  back,  and  this  touch  of 


RESURRECTION  177 

the  warden's  hand  instinctively  irritated  him;  but  he 
presently  remembered  why  he  had  come  here,  and  was 
ashamed  of  feeling  irritated  and  offended. 

The  first  room  was  a  large  vaulted  apartment  with 
small  grated  windows.  This  room  was  called  the  meet 
ing-room.  Nekhliidof  suddenly  caught  sight  of  a  large 
painting  of  the  crucifixion,  hanging  in  an  alcove. 

"Why  should  that  be  here?"  he  thought,  involuntarily 
connecting  the  image  of  Christ  with  redemption  and  not 
with  captivity. 

He  walked  slowly,  allowing  the  hurrying  visitors  to  go 
before  him ;  thinking  now  with  horror  of  the  wretches  who 
were  imprisoned  here,  now  with  compassion  for  the  in 
nocent,  like  Katusha  and  the  lad  he  saw  yesterday,  and 
again  with  tenderness  and  timidity  of  the  interview  that 
awaited  him.  As  he  was  leaving  the  first  room  he  heard 
the  warden,  who  stood  at  the  other  end  of  it,  say  some 
thing.  Nekhliidof,  absorbed  in  his  own  thoughts,  paid 
no  attention  to  the  words,  but  folio  wed  the  principal  stream 
of  visitors  in  the  direction  of  the  men's  ward,  instead  of 
turning  towards  the  women's  ward,  where  he  should 
have  gone. 

Having  let  those  who  were  in  a  hurry  pass  him,  he  was 
the  last  to  enter  the  meeting-room.  The  first  thing  that 
struck  him  as  he  opened  the  door,  was  the  deafening 
roar  of  hundreds  of  voices.  It  was  only  when  he  drew 
nearer  and  saw  the  people  like  flies  settled  on  sugar,  all 
pressing  closely  against  a  net  that  divided  the  room  into 
two  parts,  that  he  understood  what  it  meant.  The  back 
part  of  the  room,  which  had  the  windows  in  it,  was  again 
subdivided  into  two  parts  by  a  wire  netting  which  stretched 
from  the  ceiling  to  the  floor.  Between  these  two  net 
tings,  wardens  were  pacing  up  and  down.  The  prisoners 
were  beyond  the  further  netting,  therefore  as  the  two 
nettings  were  fully  three  archines  apart,  and  the  visitors 
stood  in  front  of  the  nearer  one*,  it  was  almost  impossible 
—  particularly  for  a  near-sighted  person — even  to  dis- 

VOL.   I. — 12 


1 78  RESURRECTION 

tinguish  a  face ;  and  it  was  still  more  difficult  to  converse. 
One  had  to  shout  as  loud  as  possible  to  be  heard  at  all. 
Faces  of  wives,  husbands,  fathers,  mothers,  and  children 
were  pressed  closely  against  both  sides  of  the  nettings  in 
their  efforts  to  see  each  other,  and  to  say  what  was  nec 
essary.  But  as  each  spoke  so  as  to  be  heard  by  the  one 
to  whom  he  was  talking,  and  his  neighbors  did  the  same, 
the  result  was  that  they  did  all  they  could  to  drown  each 
other's  voices.  This  was  the  cause  of  the  shouting  and 
din  which  Nekhludof  heard  when  he  first  went  in.  It 
was  impossible  to  understand  what  anybody  said.  Only 
by  the  expressions  on  the  faces  could  one  guess  at  the 
words  that  were  spoken  or  what  were  the  relations  be 
tween  the  speakers. 

An  old  woman  with  a  kerchief  on  her  head,  and  a  trem 
bling  chin,  stood  beside  him  closely  pressing  the  net,  and 
shouting  something  to  a  pale  young  man,  whose  head  was 
half-shaved.  The  prisoner,  his  forehead  puckered,  was 
listening  with  closest  attention.  Next  to  this  woman  a 
young  fellow  in  a  sleeveless  peasant  coat  listened,  shaking 
his  head  the  while,  to  what  an  old  prisoner  with  an  ema 
ciated  face  and  grayish  beard  was  saying  to  him.  A  little 
further  off  stood  a  ragged  fellow  who  shouted  out  some 
thing  and  waved  his  hand  and  laughed.  Beside  him  on 
the  floor  sat  a  woman  and  a  child ;  the  woman  wore  a  good 
woolen  gown.  She  was  sobbing;  it  seemed  to  be  the  first 
time  she  had  seen  the  white-haired  man  on  the  other  side 
of  the  netting  dressed  in  a  prisoner's  jacket,  with  shaved 
head  and  in  chains.  Above  her  stood  the  door-keeper 
with  whom  Nekhludof  had  talked.  He  was  shouting  with 
all  his  might  to  a  bald-headed  prisoner  with  sparkling 
eyes. 

When  Nekhludof  understood  that  he  must  speak  in 
these  surroundings,  a  feeling  of  indignation  arose  within 
him  against  the  men  who  could  invent  and  enforce  a 
system  like  that.  He  was  astounded  that  such  a  dread 
ful  situation,  such  an  outrage  to  human  feelings,  should 


RESURRECTION  179 

apparently  offend  no  one.  Soldiers,  Inspector,  visitors, 
and  prisoners  acted  as  though  all  this  was  as  it  should  be. 
Nekhliidof  remained  in  this  room  five  minutes,  very 
much  depressed,  conscious  of  his  own  weakness,  and  feel 
ing  out  of  tune  with  the  whole  world.  A  sense  of  moral 
lassitude  corresponding  to  seasickness  took  possession 
of  him. 

XLII. 

"Bur  I  must  do  what  I  can,  what  I  came  here  for,"  he 
said,  trying  to  bolster  up  his  resolution.  "  I  wonder  how 
I  ought  to  set  about  it?"  He  looked  round  for  some 
official,  and  perceiving  a  short,  thin  man  with  a  mus 
tache,  wearing  an  officer's  shoulder-straps,  who  was 
walking  up  and  down  in  the  rear  of  the  room,  addressed 
him. 

"  Can  you  tell  me,  sir,"  he  asked  with  elaborate  polite 
ness,  "where  the  women's  ward  is,  or  where  I  should  be 
allowed  to  see  one  of  them?" 

"Do  you  want  to  go  to  the  women's  ward?" 

"Yes,  I  should  like  to  see  one  of  the  prisoners,"  he  re 
plied  with  the  same  elaborate  courtesy. 

"You  ought  to  have  said  so  in  the  meeting-room. 
Whom  do  you  wish  to  see?" 

"Katerina  Maslova." 

"Is  she  a  political  prisoner?"  asked  the  Inspector's 
Assistant. 

"No,  sheisonly- 

"Has  she  already  been  sentenced?" 

"  Yes,  she  was  sentenced  day  before  yesterday,"  replied 
Nekhliidof  meekly,  afraid  lest  he  might  say  something 
that  would  spoil  the  mood  of  the  Inspector,  who  seemed  to 
have  taken  an  interest  in  him. 

"If  she  is  in  the  women's  ward,  please  come  this  way," 
said  the  Inspector,  evidently  favorably  impressed  with 
Nekhliidof's  appearance.  "Sidorof!"  he  called  out  to  a 


i8o  RESURRECTION 

corporal  with  a  large  mustache,  and  medals  on  his  breast, 
"take  this  gentleman  to  the  women's  ward." 

"Yes,  sir." 

Just  then  a  heart-rending  wail  was  heard. 

Everything  seemed  strange  to  Nekhludof,  but  the 
strangest  thing  of  all  was  that  he  should  feel  a  sense  of 
obligation  to  the  Inspector,  the  Senior  Warden,  and  all 
those  men  who  were  the  agents  of  the  cruel  deeds  done 
in  that  place.  The  warden  took  Nekhludof  into  the  corri 
dor  and  thence  through  a  door  directly  opposite  into  the 
women's  interviewing-room. 

Like  that  of  the  men  it  was  divided  into  three  parts  by 
the  nettings ;  but  it  was  much  smaller  and  there  were  fewer 
visitors  and  prisoners;  yet  the  din  was  the  same  as 
in  the  men's  room.  The  prison  authorities  patrolled  be 
tween  the  two  nettings  in  the  same  way.  But  here  it  was 
represented  by  a  woman  in  uniform  with  gold  stripes  on 
her  sleeves,  blue  revers,  and  a  blue  belt.  Here  also  the 
people  were  clinging  to  the  nets.  On  this  side  the  visitors, 
in  all  sorts  of  dresses,  on  the  other  the  prisoners,  some  in 
white  prison  dresses  and  some  wearing  their  own  clothes. 
The  people  stood  closely  together,  the  whole  length  of  the 
netting.  Some  were  poised  on  tiptoe,  so  as  to  be  heard 
above  the  heads  of  others,  some  sat  on  the  floor  and  ex 
changed  remarks.  The  most  conspicuous  prisoner,  the 
one  who  shouted  at  the  top  of  her  voice,  was  a  thin,  rag 
ged  gypsy-woman,  her  shawl  awry  on  her  curly  hair. 
She  stood  almost  in  the  middle  of  the  room  near  a  post  at 
the  farther  side  of  the  netting  and,  gesticulating  rapidly, 
shouted  something  to  a  gypsy  in  a  blue  coat  tightly  girdled 
below  the  waist.  A  soldier  who  was  talking  to  one  of  the 
prisoners  sat  on  the  floor  beside  the  gypsy.  And  then, 
with  his  face  pressed  closely  against  the  netting  came  a 
blond,  young,  bearded  peasant,  wearing  bast  shoes;  his 
face  was  flushed  and  he  was  having  all  he  could  do  to 
restrain  the  tears.  He  was  talking  to  a  pretty,  fair-haired 
prisoner,  whose  blue  eyes  never  wandered  from  his  face. 


RESURRECTION  181 

This  was  Fedosya  and  her  husband.  Next  came  a  tat 
tered  vagabond  talking  with  a  slovenly,  broad-faced 
woman. 

Next,  two  women,  one  man,  and  another  woman. 
Every  prisoner  had  a  visitor.  Maslova  was  not  there. 
But  behind  the  prisoners  on  the  other  side  a  woman  was 
standing,  and  Nekhludof  knew  at  once  it  was  she.  His 
heart  began  to  beat  faster  and  he  could  hardly  breathe. 
The  decisive  moment  was  drawing  near.  He  approached 
the  netting  and  recognized  her.  She  stood  behind  the 
blue-eyed  Fedosya  and  with  a  smile  listened  to  what  the 
latter  was  saying.  She  did  not  wear  the  prison  cloak  she 
had  worn  on  the  day  of  the  trial,  but  was  dressed  in  a 
white  sack,  tightly  belted  in,  to  display  her  figure  to  better 
advantage.  Beneath  the  kerchief  a  few  black  ringlets 
escaped  as  on  that  day  in  Court. 

"It  will  be  decided  now,"  he  thought.  "How  shall  I 
call  her,  or  will  she  come  herself?" 

But  she  did  not  come.  She  was  expecting  Clara  and 
had  no  idea  that  this  visitor  was  for  her.  The  matron 
who  was  walking  between  the  nettings  went  up  to 
Nekhludof. 

"  Whom  do  you  wish  to  see  ?"  she  said. 

"Katerina  Maslova,"  he  replied,  speaking  with  diffi 
culty. 

"Some  one  to  see  you,  Maslova,"  cried  the  matron. 

Maslova  turned,  and  with  head  erect  and  chest  ex 
panded,  walked  up  to  the  netting  with  that  expression  of 
readiness  that  he  was  so  familiar  with,  and  pushing  her 
way  between  two  rows  of  prisoners  looked  at  Nekhludof 
in  surprise  and  evidently  without  recognition.  However, 
judging  by  his  dress  that  he  was  a  man  of  wealth,  she 
smiled. 

"Have  you  come  to  see  me?"  she  said,  bringing  her 
smiling  face  with  its  slightly  squinting  eyes  nearer  to  the 
netting. 

"  I  wished  to  see   .    .    ."    Nekhludof  hesitated,  wonder- 


182  RESURRECTION 

ing  whether  he  ought  to  say  "thee"  or  "thou."  He  was 
speaking  in  his  ordinary  tone  of  voice. 

"  I  wanted  to  see  you.     I  — 

"  Don't  talk  such  rot  to  me!''  shouted  the  ragged  fellow 
next  to  him. 

"Did  you  take  it?— or  didn't  you  take  it?" 

"I  am  telling  you  that  he  is  lying.  What  more  can  1 
say?"  shouted  some  one  on  the  other  side. 

Mlslova  could  not  hear  what  Nekhludof  said,  but  the 
expression  of  his  face  suddenly  brought  a  familiar  image 
to  her  mind.  She  couldn't  believe  it  possible,  but  her 
smile  vanished  and  her  forehead  had  a  drawn  look  as 
though  she  were  in  pain. 

"I  can't  hear  what  you  say,"  she  called  out,  slightly 
squinting,  and  her  brow  deeply  furrowed  with  wrinkles. 

"I  came " 

"  Yes,  I  am  doing  what  I  ought;  I  am  doing  penance," 
thought  Nekhludof,  and  as  he  realized  what  had  come  to 
pass,  he  felt  suddenly  choked,  tears  sprang  to  his  eyes,  and 
clutching  the  netting  more  tightly  with  his  fingers  he 
struggled  hard  to  repress  a  sob. 

"  I  say,  why  did  you  go  where  you  hadn't  any  busi 
ness  .  .  ."  shouted  s^ome  one  at  his  side. 

"I  know  nothing  about  it,  so  help  me  God,"  screamed 
a  prisoner  from  another  direction. 

When  she  saw  his  agitation,  Mdslova  felt  sure  that  it 
was  Nekhludof. 

"You  remind  me  of  some  one,  but  I'm  sure  I  don't 
know,"  she  shouted  without  looking  at  him,  her  flushed 
face  darkening  more  and  more. 

"  I  came  to  ask  you  to  forgive  me,"  he  shouted  in  reply, 
as  though  reciting  a  lesson  learned  by  heart;  and,  as  he 
repeated  his  lesson,  shame  fell  upon  him;  he  turned  round. 
Then  came  the  thought,  if  he  were  ashamed,  so  much  the 
better,  since  it  was  his  own  disgrace,  and  therefore  must 
be  borne. 

So  he  began  again,  speaking  in  a  loud  voice :    "  Forgive 


RESURRECTION  183 

me.  I  have  sinned  grievously  against  you."  He  almost 
shouted  the  words. 

She  stood  absolutely  motionless  and  never  once  took 
her  squinting  eyes  from  his. 

He  had  come  to  the  end  of  his  self-control,  and  turned 
away  from  the  railing  trying  to  suppress  the  sobs  that 
shook  him  from  head  to  foot. 

The  Assistant  Inspector  who  had  escorted  him  into  the 
women's  ward  seemed  to  feel  an  interest  in  his  affair,  for 
happening  to  come  in  just  at  that  minute  he  noticed  that 
Nekhludof  was  not  at  the  netting  and  asked  him  why  he 
wasn't  talking  to  the  woman  he  came  to  see.  Nekhludof 
blew  his  nose,  pulled  himself  together,  and  made  an  effort 
to  seem  calm. 

"I  cannot  speak  through  that  netting;  it's  impossible 
to  hear  anything,"  he  said. 

The  Inspector  hesitated  for  a  moment  as  if  he  were 
thinking  it  over;  then: 

"Well,"  he  said,  "she  could  be  brought  out  here  for  a 
while.  Marya  Karlovna,"  he  added,  addressing  the 
matron,  "bring  Maslova  out." 

XLIII. 

A  MOMENT  later  M&slova  came  in  through  the  side  door. 
Stepping  lightly,  she  came  up  to  Nekhludof  and  stood  in 
front  of  him,  looking  up  from  under  her  bent  brows.  The 
black  ringlets  were  hanging  loosely  as  on  the  day  before; 
her  pale  face,  in  spite  of  its  sickly  hue  and  bloated  looks, 
was  still  attractive.  She  seemed  perfectly  composed, 
though  her  dark,  slightly  squinting  eyes  glittered  from 
beneath  their  swollen  lids. 

"You  may  talk  here,"  said  the  Assistant  Inspector,  and 
then  he  withdrew.  Nekhliidof  walked  toward  the  bench 
that  stood  by  the  window.  Maslova,  after  a  glance  of 
inquiry  at  the  Assistant  Inspector  and  a  surprised  shrug 
of  her  shoulders,  followed  Nekhludof  to  the  bench.  Here 


i84  RESURRECTION 

after  a  careful  arrangement  of  her  skirt  she  seated  herself 
by  his  side. 

"I  know  it  is  hard  for  you  to  forgive  me,"  he  began 
and  stopped,  as  he  felt  the  tears  coming,  "but  I  cannot 
atone  for  the  past.  I  will  do  anything  I  can  for  you  now. 
Tell  me  ..." 

"How  did  you  find  me?"  she  said,  neither  answering 
his  question  nor  looking  at  him. 

"Help  me,  O  my  God!  Teach  me  what  to  do!"  said 
Nekhludof  to  himself,  looking  at  her  face,  now  sadly 
changed  for  the  worse. 

"  I  was  on  the  jury  day  before  yesterday  when  you  were 
tried.  Didn't  you  recognize  me?" 

"No,  I  had  no  time  for  staring  around,  and  what's 
more,  I  didn't  care  to,"  she  said. 

"  A  child  was  born  ?"  he  asked  and  felt  himself  blushing. 

"Yes,  and  he  died,  praised  be  the  Lord,"  she  answered 
curtly.  Her  tone  was  wrathful,  and  she  turned  her  head 
away. 

"Oh,  why?" 

"  I  was  at  death 's  door  myself,"  she  said  without  raising 
her  eyes. 

"How  came  the  aunts  to  discharge  you?" 

"Who  would  keep  a  servant  with  a  child?  They 
turned  me  off  as  soon  as  they  noticed.  What's  the  use  of 
talking  about  it?  I  don't  want  to  remember  it.  I've 
forgotten  all  about  it.  It's  all  over  now,  and  that's  the 
end  of  it." 

"No,  it  is  not  all  over.  I  cannot  let  matters  rest  as 
they  are.  I  must  atone  now  for  my  sin." 

"  There  is  nothing  to  atone  for.  It's  all  past  and  gone," 
she  said;  then  much  to  his  surprise,  she  smiled  upon  him, 
such  a  smile!  so  enticing,  so  repulsive,  and  yet  so  pitiful. 

Mdslova  had  never  expected  to  look  upon  his  face 
again,  and  of  all  places  where  he  might  appear  this  was 
the  last.  At  first  she  was  amazed  at  the  sight  of  him  and 
reminded  of  many  things  long  since  forgotten.  Dimly 


RESURRECTION  185 

she  recalled  that  glorious  new  world  of  thoughts  and 
feelings  opened  to  her  by  the  charming  youth  whom  she 
had  loved  and  who  had  loved  her,  and  then  his  incon 
ceivable  cruelty,  and  that  long  chain  of  degradations  and 
sufferings  which  forged  and  trailed  after  that  ravishing 
joy,  and  she  felt  a  sense  of  pain.  But  unable  to  grasp  the 
meaning  of  it  all,  she  adopted  her  usual  plan;  she  put 
those  memories  away  from  her,  and  flung  over  them  the 
veil  of  her  abandoned  life.  At  first  this  man  brought  back 
to  her  the  image  of  her  early  love,  but  only  for  a  moment; 
the  impression  was  too  painful;  she  turned  away  from  it, 
and  began  to  look  upon  this  carefully  dressed,  well- 
groomed  man,  with  his  perfumed  beard,  not  as  the 
Nekhliidof  whom  she  had  loved,  but  as  one  of  the  men 
who  used  women  like  herself  when  they  were  so  inclined, 
and  from  whose  follies  creatures  of  her  sort  reaped  their 
own  profits  as  best  they  might.  It  was  then  she  gave  that 
alluring  smile ;  and  now  she  was  silent,  thinking  what  she 
could  get  out  of  him. 

"Everything's  over  now,"  she  said,  "and  I  have  been 
sentenced  to  penal  servitude."  Her  lips  trembled  as  she 
spoke  those  terrible  words. 

"  I  know,  and  I  was  sure  that  you  were  not  guilty,"  said 
Nekhliidof. 

"Of  course  I  was  not.  I  am  no  murderess  nor  thief, 
neither.  People  say  that  everything  depends  upon  the 
lawyer,"  she  continued.  "I  was  told  that  I  ought  to  get 
up  a  petition.  Only  that  would  be  expensive " 

"Yes,  of  course.  I  have  already  engaged  a  lawyer," 
said  Nekhliidof. 

"Don't  begrudge  the  expense,  get  a  good  one,"  she 
said. 

"I  shall  do  everything  in  my  power." 

Then  neither  spoke  for  a  time. 

"  I  was  going  to  ask  you  .  .  .  for  a  little  money,  if  you 
could  spare  it  ...  not  much  .  .  .  ten  roubles  would 
do,"  she  said  suddenly,  and  smiled  again. 


i86  RESURRECTION 

"Why,  certainly,"  he  replied,  and  fumbled  for  his 
pocket-book. 

She  looked  quickly  at  the  Superintendent,  who  was 
walking  up  and  down. 

"  Don't  give  it  when  he's  looking,  or  they'll  take  it  away 
from  me." 

Nekhludof  took  out  the  pocket-book  as  soon  as  the 
Inspector's  back  was  turned,  but  before  he  had  time  to 
give  her  the  ten  roubles  the  Inspector's  face  was  again 
turned  towards  them.  He  crumpled  the  paper  in  his  hand. 

"This  woman  has  died,"  thought  Nekhliidof,  looking 
at  her  face,  once  so  enchanting,  now  so  denied,  so  bloated; 
he  caught  the  evil  glitter  of  her  eyes,  her  black,  slightly 
squinting  eyes,  as  they  turned  first  to  watch  the  move 
ments  of  the  Inspector  and  then  to  gaze  greedily  at  the 
hand  that  held  the  money.  For  a  moment  he  hesitated. 

Again  he  heard  the  voice  of  the  tempter  repeating  the 
arguments  he  had  used  the  night  before  and  trying  to 
turn  his  attention  from  the  question  of  duty  to  the  question 
of  results  and  of  practical  utility. 

"You  can  do  nothing  with  this  woman,"  said  the  voice. 
"  You  will  only  put  a  stone  round  your  own  neck  that  will 
drown  you  and  will  prevent  you  from  being  of  any  use  to 
the  rest  of  the  world.  Would  it  not  be  better  to  give  her 
some  money,  give  her  my  whole  fortune,  say  good-by  to 
her  forever,  and  so  make  an  end  of  it  all  ?" 

All  at  once  he  realized  the  impending  crisis  in  his  soul. 
He  felt  that  his  spiritual  life  was,  so  to  speak,  being 
weighed  in  the  balance  and  that  but  the  slightest  effort 
would  tip  the  scale  in  either  direction.  He  made  the 
effort.  He  called  upon  the  Almighty  God  whose  pres 
ence  in  his  soul  he  had  felt  so  intensely  yesterday,  and  the 
Lord  responded.  He  made  up  his  mind  at  once  to  tell 
her  everything. 

"  Katiisha,  I  came  to  ask  thee  to  forgive  me  and  thou 
hast  not  told  me  whether  thou  wilt  or  no,"  he  said,  adopt 
ing  the  familiar  "thou." 


RESURRECTION  187 

She  was  too  much  absorbed  in  watching  his  hand  and 
the  Inspector  to  hear  what  he  said.  As  soon  as  the 
Inspector's  back  was  turned,  she  quickly  put  out  her 
hand,  snatched  the  note  and  tucked  it  into  her  belt. 

"Those  are  queer  words  you're  using,"  she  said,  with 
what  seemed  to  him  a  satirical  smile.  Nekhliidof  felt 
that  there  was  some  antagonistic  spirit  within  her, 
warding  him  off  and  preventing  him  from  reaching  her 
heart. 

Yet,  strange  to  say,  this  did  not  repel  him,  but  rather 
drew  him  towards  her  the  more,  as  by  some  new  and 
peculiar  force.  He  felt  that  it  was  for  him  to  awaken  her 
spirit  —  no  easy  task — but  its  very  difficulty  attracted 
him.  He  now  felt  towards  her  as  he  had  never  felt  either 
toward  her  or  any  one  else  before,  a  feeling  which  was 
wholly  impersonal;  he  wished  nothing  for  himself  so  far 
as  she  was  concerned;  all  he  desired  was  that  she  should 
cease  to  be  what  she  was  now,  that  she  should  awaken  and 
become  like  her  old  self  again. 

"  Why  do  you  speak  like  that,  Katiisha  ?  I  remember 
you  only  as  you  were  then  in  Pandvo " 

"What's  the  good  of  bringing  up  the  past?"  she  said 
dryly. 

"I  bring  it  up,  because  I  wish  to  make  amends  and 
expiate  my  sin,"  he  began  to  say,  and  was  going  to  add 
that  he  would  marry  her,  but  he  met  her  eyes  and  read 
in  them  something  so  coarse,  so  revolting,  so  repulsive, 
that  he  could  not  utter  the  words. 

At  that  moment  the  visitors  began  to  leave.  The 
Inspector  came  towards  Nekhludof  and  told  him  that  the 
time  was  up.  Maslova  rose,  waiting  patiently  to  be  dis 
missed. 

"Good-by;  I  still  have  much  to  tell  you,  but  as  you 
see,  I  cannot  say  any  more  now.  I  will  come  again,"  he 
said  and  gave  her  his  hand. 

"I  think  you've  said  all  there  is  to  say " 

She  took  his  hand  but  did  not  press  it. 


i88  RESURRECTION 

"No,  I  will  try  to  see  you  again,  where  we  can  talk 
more  freely.  I  have  something  important  to  tell  you," 
said  Nekhludof. 

"Well,  come  then  if  you  like,"  she  said,  smiling  on  him 
as  she  did  on  men  she  wished  to  please. 

"You  are  nearer  to  me  than  a  sister,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"How  queer!"  she  repeated,  and  shaking  her  head  she 
withdrew  behind  the  netting. 


XLIV. 

BEFORE  the  first  interview,  Nekhliidof  had  expected 
that  as  soon  as  Katusha  saw  him  and  had  been  told  that 
he  had  repented  and  meant  to  do  the  best  he  could  for  her, 
she  would  rejoice  and  be  glad,  and  turn  at  once  into  the 
Katusha  he  used  to  know.  But  he  found  to  his  horror 
that  Katusha  had  vanished  and  Maslova  had  taken  her 
place.  This  surprised  and  horrified  him. 

What  shocked  him  most  was  that  Maslova  showed  no 
sign  of  shame — except  as  a  prisoner — she  was  very 
much  ashamed  of  being  in  jail;  but  of  being  a  prostitute, 
not  at  all;  on  the  other  hand  she  seemed  rather  pleased 
with  herself  and  proud  of  her  position.  Yet,  how  could 
it  be  otherwise  ?  No  man  can  play  an  active  part  in  the 
world  unless  he  believes  that  his  activity  is  of  some  use  or 
importance.  Therefore,  whatever  position  a  man  may 
hold  he  is  certain  to  take  that  view  of  human  life  in  gen 
eral,  which  will  make  his  own  activity  seem  good  and 
important.  It  is  generally  supposed  that  a  thief,  a 
murderer,  a  spy,  or  a  prostitute,  knowing  that  his  occu 
pation  is  evil,  must  be  ashamed  of  it.  In  point  of  fact 
the  case  is  precisely  the  reverse.  Men  who  have  been 
placed  by  fate  and  their  own  sins,  or  mistakes,  in  certain 
positions,  however  false  they  may  be,  always  adopt  a  view 
of  life  which  makes  their  own  position  in  it  seem  desirable 
and  appropriate.  To  maintain  this  idea  men  instinc- 


RESURRECTION  189 

tively  mingle  only  with  those  who  accept  their  own  con 
ception  of  life  and  the  position  they  occupy  therein.  This 
surprises  us  when  it  is  a  question  of  thieves  who  boast  of 
their  adroitness,  of  prostitutes  who  flaunt  their  shame,  of 
murderers  who  gloat  over  their  cruelty.  But  we  are  sur 
prised  only  because  the  circle,  the  sphere,  of  these  men  is 
limited,  and  principally  because  we  are  outside  of  it;  but 
does  not  the  same  state  of  things  exist  among  the  rich 
who  boast  of  their  wealth,  which  must  be  called  robbery; 
of  generals  who  boast  of  their  victories,  practically  mur 
der;  of  rulers  who  boast  of  then1  power,  the  synonym  of 
violence?  The  only  reason  why  we  do  not  recognize 
their  ideas  of  life  and  of  good  and  evil  as  perverted,  is, 
because  the  circle  of  men  holding  these  perverted  ideas  is 
larger  and  because  we  belong  to  it  ourselves. 

Maslova  held  this  opinion  of  life,  and  of  the  position 
she  herself  occupied.  She  was  a  prostitute,  condemned 
to  penal  servitude;  and  yet,  regardless  of  all  this,  she  had 
a  conception  of  life  which  allowed  her  to  think  well  of 
herself  and  even  to  feel  a  pride  in  her  position. 

According  to  her  theory,  the  highest  good  of  all  men 
without  exception,  old  and  young,  schoolboys  and  gen 
erals,  educated  and  uneducated,  consisted  in  intimate 
relations  with  attractive  women,  and  that  every  man, 
although  he  might  pretend  to  busy  himself  with  other 
matters,  in  reality  cared  for  nothing  but  this;  that  she,  an 
attractive  woman,  could  either  satisfy  or  disappoint  their 
desires,  and  that  she  was  consequently  an  important  and 
necessary  individual.  The  experiences  of  her  earlier  life, 
no  less  than  those  of  the  present,  confirmed  the  correctness 
of  this  theory. 

During  the  past  ten  years,  no  matter  where  she  had 
been,  from  Nekhludof  and  the  old  Stanovoy,  down  to  the 
prison  wardens,  all  the  men  she  knew  had  needed  her;  she 
had  taken  no  note  of  any  others.  Therefore  the  whole 
world  seemed  to  her  to  be  an  assemblage  of  people  living 
under  the  dominion  of  their  passions,  watching  every 


190  RESURRECTION 

step  she  took,  and  striving  by  all  possible  means,  by  fraud 
and  violence,  by  purchase  and  artifice,  to  possess  her. 

This  being  M&slova  's  conception  of  life,  it  was  natural 
that  she  should  really  consider  herself  an  important  per 
son  far  removed  from  insignificance.  And  she  prized  this 
theory  of  life  above  all  things  in  the  world,  could  not  fail 
to  prize  it,  because  if  she  were  to  change  her  views,  she 
would  lose  the  importance  which  her  present  opinion  gave 
her  among  men.  And  in  order  not  to  lose  that  pre 
eminence  in  life,  she  clung  instinctively  to  the  class  of  men 
who  looked  upon  life  as  she  did.  Divining  that  Nekhlu- 
dof  wanted  to  introduce  her  into  another  world,  she 
opposed  him,  foreseeing  that  in  that  world  towards  which 
he  sought  to  draw  her,  she  would  lose  that  position  in  life 
which  gave  her  confidence  and  self-respect.  This  was 
also  the  reason  why  she  banished  all  memories  of  her 
girlhood  and  her  early  relations  with  Nekhliidof.  These 
recollections  did  not  agree  with  her  present  theory  and 
were  therefore  entirely  erased  from  her  mind,  or  it  might 
be  more  accurate  to  describe  them  as  carefully  sealed,  and 
enclosed  therein,  just  as  the  bees  will  sometimes  treat  a 
nest  of  worms  to  prevent  the  creatures  from  coming  out 
and  destroying  their  work.  Therefore  the  present 
Nekhliidof  was  not  the  man  whom  she  had  once  loved 
with  a  pure  affection,  but  only  a  rich  gentleman  who 
could  and  should  be  made  useful  and  with  whom  she 
might  have  the  same  relations  as  with  all  other  men. 

"No,  I  could  not  say  the  most  important  thing," 
thought  Nekhludof,  as  he  followed  the  crowd  to  the 
entrance.  "  I  did  not  tell  her  that  I  would  marry  her.  I 
did  not  say  that;  but  I  will." 

As  the  two  wardens  at  the  door  watched  the  visitors  as 
they  passed  out,  they  counted  them  again,  touching  each 
one  on  the  shoulder,  so  that  no  extra  person  should  either 
remain  within  or  pass  out.  But  this  time  the  touch  did 
not  offend  Nekhludof;  he  scarcely  noticed  it  at  all. 


RESURRECTION  191 


XLV. 

NEKHLUDOF  meant  to  change  his  outward  life.  He 
wished  to  rent  his  large  apartment,  to  dismiss  the  servants, 
and  to  establish  himself  in  a  hotel.  But  Agraphe'na 
Petrdvna  pointed  out  to  him  that  there  was  no  reason  for 
changing  anything  whatsoever  in  his  way  of  living;  no  one 
would  think  of  hiring  the  apartment  in  summer,  and  he 
would  have  to  live  and  store  his  things  somewhere.  So 
that  all  his  efforts  to  change  his  outward  life,  which  he 
longed  to  arrange  in  some  simple  student-fashion,  were 
fruitless.  Not  only  did  things  remain  as  they  were,  but 
all  the  extra  work  of  hanging  the  furs  and  woolens  out  of 
doors  to  be  shaken  and  beaten,  now  began  in  earnest. 
The  house-porter  and  his  assistant,  the  cook  and  even 
Korndy  himself,  took  a  share  in  the  work.  First  the 
uniforms,  and  various  strange-looking  furs,  that  no  one 
ever  used,  were  brought  out  and  hung  on  the  line;  next 
came  the  carpets  and  furniture,  and  the  house-porter  and 
his  assistant,  their  shirt-sleeves  rolled  up  over  their  mus 
cular  arms,  keeping  time  with  then:  strokes,  gave  every 
thing  a  good  beating.  The  fumes  of  naphtha  filled  every 
room.  Whenever  he  passed  through  the  yard  or  looked 
out  of  the  window,  Nekhludof  wondered  why  all  these 
things  were  his,  and  thought  how  utterly  useless  they  all 
were.  So  far  as  he  could  see  their  only  reason  for  exist 
ence  was  to  provide  exercise  for  Agraphena  Petr6vna, 
Korne*y,  the  house-porter  and  his  assistant,  and  the  cook. 

He  had  made  up  his  mind  that  it  was  not  worth  while 
to  change  his  mode  of  life  until  Maslova  's  case  was  settled. 
"  Difficult  as  it  would  be  in  any  event,  the  change  would 
come  most  naturally  when  she  is  either  set  free  or  exiled, 
in  which  latter  case,  I  shall  follow  her." 

On  the  appointed  day,  Nekhludof  drove  up  to  Fana"rin's 
house.  He  entered  that  luxurious  apartment,  in  his  own 
private  house,  decorated  with  huge  plants  and  wonderful 


192  RESURRECTION 

draperies  hanging  in  the  windows,  in  fact  with  all  that 
expensive  furnishing  which  betrays  those  who  have 
obtained  their  money  without  labor  and  which  is  found  in 
the  house  of  men  grown  suddenly  rich.  In  the  reception- 
room,  sitting  around  the  various  tables,  disconsolate- 
looking  individuals  were  whiling  away  the  time,  as  they  do 
when  they  are  waiting  their  turn  in  doctors'  offices,  gazing 
listlessly  at  the  illustrated  papers  that  are  supposed  to 
distract  their  minds.  Fanarin's  assistant,  who  was  seated 
at  a  high  desk,  recognized  Nekhludof.  He  came  up  and 
greeted  him,  adding  that  he  would  announce  him  at  once, 
but  before  he  reached  the  door  of  the  study,  it  was  opened 
and  the  sound  of  loud,  animated  voices  was  heard, — one 
of  these  was  the  voice  of  a  middle-aged,  square-shouldered 
man  attired  in  a  brand-new  suit  of  clothes,  and  the  other 
was  that  of  Fanarin  himself.  The  client  had  a  red  face 
and  a  heavy  mustache.  On  the  face  of  both  a  certain 
expression  betrayed  the  fact  that  they  had  accomplished 
a  transaction  advantageous  to  themselves  but  of  doubtful 
honesty. 

"That's  your  own  fault,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  Fan£rin, 
smiling. 

"I'd  like  to  go  to  heaven,  but  my  sins  won't  have  it." 
He  used  a  colloquial  expression  for  the  verb  "have." 

"Yes,  yes,  we  are  aware  of  that,"  said  Fandrin,  and 
both  men  laughed  constrainedly. 

"Ah,  walk  in,  Prince,"  said  Fandrin  to  NekhMdof;  he 
bestowed  a  parting  nod  on  the  retreating  merchant  and 
introduced  Nekhludof  into  his  study,  a  room  furnished 
with  rigid  simplicity. 

"Will  you  smoke?"  said  the  lawyer,  taking  a  seat 
opposite  Nekhludof  and  repressing  a  smile  which  was 
evidently  due  to  the  success  of  the  previous  transaction. 

"Thank  you;  I  have  come  to  consult  you  in  regard  to 
Mdslova's  case." 

"Yes,  yes,  I  know.  You  can't  conceive  what  scoun 
drels  those  fellows  with  their  fat  wallets  can  be!  You 


RESURRECTION  193 

noticed  that  fellow  who  went  out?  Well,  he  is  worth 
twelve  millions  and  can't  speak  correctly;  but  he  would 
snatch  a  twenty-five-rouble  ticket  from  you" — Fanarin 
meant  a  bank-note  —  "with  his  teeth,  if  he  saw  a  chance 
of  getting  it  away." 

"  'He  can't  speak  correctly/  and  you  say  a  ' twenty- 
five-rouble  ticket?"  thought  Nekhludof,  feeling  an  invin 
cible  aversion  to  this  man  with  his  free  and  easy  air  of 
belonging  to  the  same  class  with  the  Prince,  while  he 
carefully  identified  his  clients  as  men  of  quite  another 
order. 

"He  has  given  me  no  end  of  trouble,  the  rascal.  I 
couldn't  help  speaking  of  him,"  said  the  lawyer,  as  though 
to  excuse  himself  for  delaying  the  business  with  Nekhlu 
dof.  "And  now  about  your  case.  ...  I  have  looked 
over  the  papers  carefully  and  'have  not  approved  of  the 
contents,  etc.,'  as  Tourguenef  puts  it;  I  mean  to  say  that 
that  picayune  lawyer  has  just  missed  every  chance  for  an 
appeal." 

"What  then  have  you  decided?" 

"  Excuse  me  one  moment.  Tell  him,"  he  said,  turning 
to  the  assistant  who  just  entered  the  room,  "that  I  shall 
not  change  my  mind.  If  he  can  manage  it,  well  and  good, 
and  if  he  can't,  I  won't  take  the  case." 

"He  refuses." 

"Very  well,  then,  let  him  go,"  replied  the  lawyer,  and 
his  self-satisfied,  benignant  expression  gave  place  to  a 
gloomy  frown. 

"They  say  we  lawyers  get  paid  for  doing  nothing,"  he 
said  again,  resuming  the  pleasant  look.  "I  have  saved 
one  bankrupt  debtor  from  a  totally  unjust  accusation,  and 
now  they  all  besiege  me.  And  every  case  calls  for  a  mon 
strous  amount  of  work.  As  some  author  said  once,  we 
also  'leave  a  bit  of  flesh  in  the  inkstand.'  Now  then,  as 
to  your  case,  or  I  would  say  in  regard  to  the  case  in  which 
you  are  interested,"  he  went  on.  "  It  has  been  abominably 
handled  and  then  there's  not  a  single  cause  for  appeal; 

VOL.   I.— 13 


194  RESURRECTION 

still  we  can  make  a  hack  at  it,  and  this  is  what  I  have  set 
down." 

Here  he  took  up  an  official  sheet  of  paper  and  began  to 
read,  slurring  some  words  and  emphasizing  others :  "  To 
the  Criminal  Court  of  Appeal  of  the  Senate,  etc.,  etc.,  etc., 
the  Petition  of  So  and  So.  According  to  the  verdict,  etc., 
Ma"slova  has  been  found  guilty  of  poisoning  with  intent 
to  kill  the  merchant  Smelk6f  and  by  virtue  of  Article 
1454  of  the  Penal  Code  has  been  sentenced  to  penal 
servitude,  etc." 

He  paused  and  although  it  was  an  everyday  affair  it 
was  plain  that  the  pleasure  of  hearing  himself  speak 
never  palled  upon  him. 

"This  verdict  was  the  direct  result  of  legal  omissions 
and  mistakes  sufficiently  serious,"  he  continued  impres 
sively,  "to  enable  us  to  ask  to  have  it  revoked.  Firstly,  the 
Presiding  Justice  interrupted  the  report  of  the  post-mor 
tem  examination  of  Smelkof's  intestines,  at  the  very  be 
ginning  of  the  reading.  Point  number  one.  .  .  . " 

"But  it  was  the  Prosecutor  who  demanded  this  read 
ing,"  said  Nekhludof  with  surprise. 

"That  makes  no  difference;  the  defendant  might  also 
have  demanded  the  reading." 

"  But  it  was  entirely  superfluous." 

"Never  mind;  it's  a  cause  for  appeal.  So  proceed. 
Secondly:  When  the  Attorney  for  the  defense,"  he  con 
tinued,  "was  detailing  some  of  the  moral  causes  that  had 
brought  about  Mdslova's  fall,  the  Presiding  Justice  called 
him  to  order  for  wandering  from  the  matter  in  hand. 
Now  everybody  knows  that  in  criminal  cases,  as  the 
Senate  has  repeatedly  pointed  out,  a  delineation  of  the 
moral  characteristics  of  the  criminal  is  of  vital  signifi 
cance,  were  it  only  for  determining  the  degree  of  his 
responsibility.  And  here  we  have  point  number  two," 
he  said,  looking  at  Nekhludof. 

"  Yes,  but  he  spoke  so  wretchedly  that  it  was  impossible 


RESURRECTION  195 

to  understand  him,"  replied  NekhMdof,  growing  more 
and  more  astonished. 

"Well,  he  hasn't  much  sense,  he  couldn't  be  expected 
to  say  anything  worth  hearing,"  replied  Fandrin,  laugh 
ing;  "still,  it's  a  cause  for  appeal.  Thirdly:  When  the 
Presiding  Justice  delivered  his  charge  to  the  jury,  he 
violated  a  positive  decree  of  the  Criminal  Statutes,  set 
forth  in  clause  i,  article  80 1.  And  this  he  did  by  omit 
ting  to  explain  to  the  jurors  just  what  is  required  by  the 
law,  to  convict  an  alleged  criminal,  and  moreover  he 
never  told  them  that  although  they  had  agreed  in  pro 
nouncing  Maslova  guilty  of  having  administered  the  poison, 
still  in  view  of  the  fact  that  her  malicious  intention  had 
not  been  proved,  they  had  the  right  to  hold  her  innocent  of 
actual  crime,  and  guilty  only  of  carelessness  which  resulted, 
greatly  to  her  surprise,  in  the  merchant's  death.  And 
this  is  the  really  important  point." 

"  Yes,  but  we  ought  to  have  understood  that  ourselves. 
That  was  our  own  mistake." 

"And  now,"  the  lawyer  went  on,  "we  come  to  the 
fourth  and  last  point.  The  answer  of  the  jury  to  the 
question  concerning  Maslova's  guilt  was  couched  in 
language  which  expressed  an  obvious  contradiction. 
Mdslova  was  accused  of  a  deliberate  intention  to  poison 
Smelkof  from  a  mercenary  motive;  the  only  motive,  in 
fact,  which  could  be  ascribed  to  her.  But  the  jury  in 
their  verdict  acquitted  her  of  any  intent  to  rob,  or  par 
ticipation  in  the  theft  of  the  valuables.  It  is  therefore 
evident  that  they  intended  to  deny  that  Maslova  was 
guilty  of  wilful  murder  and  also  that  they  would  have 
expressed  this  intention  in  their  verdict,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  misunderstanding  which  arose  from  the  defective 
charge  of  the  Presiding  Justice;  in  consideration  whereof, 
this  answer  of  the  jury  calls  for  the  application  of  articles 
816  and  808  of  the  Criminal  Code,  that  is,  the  rectification 
of  the  mistake  made  by  the  Presiding  Justice  in  his 
charge  to  the  jury  to  be  followed  by  another  submission 


196  RESURRECTION 

of  issues  to  them,  and  their  answers  concerning  the  guilt 
of  the  accused,"  read  Fanarin. 

"Then  why  did  not  the  Presiding  Justice  do  this?" 
"That's  what  I  should  like  to  know,"  replied  Fanarin, 
laughing. 

"Then  the  Senate  will  rectify  the  error?" 
"  That  depends  upon  who  it  is  who  happens  to  be  pre 
siding  at  the  appointed  time.  So  there  you  are.  And 
furthermore,  I  have  said,  'A  verdict  like  that  does  not  give 
the  Court  a  right,' "  he  went  on  reading  rapidly,  "  'to  con 
demn  Mdslova  to  the  punishment  of  a  criminal,  nor  to 
apply  to  her  Section  3  of  article  771  of  the  Criminal  Code; 
this  is  a  direct  and  flagrant  transgression  of  the  fundamen 
tal  laws  of  criminal  jurisdiction.  Therefore  in  considera 
tion  of  the  causes  previously  described  I  have  the  honor  to 
petition,  etc.,  that  this  verdict  may  be  set  aside  in  con 
formity  with  articles  909,  910  of  the  second  section  and 
with  articles  912  and  928  of  the  Criminal  Code,  etc.,  etc., 
and  that  the  case  may  be  transferred  to  another  session 
of  said  Court  for  revision.7  And  now  all  that  can  be 
done  for  the  present  has  been  done.  But  I  will  tell  you 
frankly  that  there  is  but  a  slight  chance  of  success.  Still, 
it  all  depends  on  the  personnel  of  the  Senators.  If  you 
have  any  influence,  see  what  you  can  do." 
"  I  know  a  few  of  them." 

"Then  don't  lose  any  time,  else  you  will  find  they  have 
gone  out  of  town  for  the  summer,  and  you  may  have  to  wait 
three  months.  You  know  that  in  the  event  of  failure 
there  is  always  the  resource  of  a  petition  to  the  Czar. 
But  the  success  of  that  also  depends  on  knowing  how  to 
handle  your  affair  diplomatically.  In  this  case  also  I  am 
at  your  service.  I  don't  mean  in  the  way  of  diplomacy, 
but  in  drawing  up  the  petition." 

"I  thank  you.     And  in  regard  to  your  fee " 

"When  my  assistant  hands  you  the  petition,  he  will 
tell  you." 

"There  was  another  thing  that  I  meant  to  ask  you. 


RESURRECTION  197 

The  Prosecutor  gave  me  a  pass  to  see  this  person,  but  at 
the  jail  I  was  told  that  I  must  obtain  the  permission  of 
the  Governor  if  I  wished  for  an  interview  at  any  other 
time  than  on  the  regular  visiting  days.  Is  that  true?" 

"Yes,  I  think  so.  But  the  Governor  is  not  in  town 
just  now;  the  Vice-Governor  is  in  charge,  and  he  is  such 
a  consummate  fool  that  I  doubt  whether  you  can  do  any 
thing  with  him." 

"IsitMjislennikof?" 

"Yes." 

"I  know  him,"  said  Nekhludof,  and  rose  to  go. 

At  this  moment  an  ugly,  skinny,  pug-nosed,  and  yellow- 
faced  woman  burst  suddenly  into  the  room.  It  was  the 
lawyer's  wife.  Since  she  was  extravagantly  overdressed 
in  a  costume  of  bright  yellow  velvet  and  green  silk,  it  is 
to  be  supposed  that  she  had  no  idea  of  her  own  ugliness. 
Her  scanty  hair  was  elaborately  curled  and  she  made  her 
triumphant  entry  into  the  reception-room,  accompanied 
by  a  smiling,  bilious-looking  individual,  dressed  in  a  frock 
coat  with  silk  revers  and  a  white  tie.  He  was  an  author. 
Nekhludof  had  seen  him  before. 

"Anatole,"  she  said,  opening  the  door  of  the  study, 
"  come  in  here  a  moment.  Semion  Iv£novitch  has  prom 
ised  to  read  his  poem  and  you  will  have  to  read  about 
Garshin." 

Nekhludof  was  rising  to  leave,  but  the  lawyer's  wife, 
after  whispering  a  few  words  to  her  husband,  turned  to 
wards  him.  "Since  I  know  who  you  are,  Prince,"  she 
said,  "we  may  dispense  with  an  introduction;  will  you 
favor  us  with  your  presence  at  our  literary  matinee?  We 
think  it  will  be  quite  interesting.  Anatole  reads  charm- 
ingly." 

"You  see  what  a  variety  of  occupations  I  have,"  said 
Anatole,  making  a  deprecatory  gesture  with  his  hands  and 
smilingly  indicating  his  wife,  as  much  as  to  say,  who 
could  ever  resist  such  a  bewitching  creature  ?  Nekhliidof 
thanked  the  advocate's  wife  for  her  polite  invitation,  which 


198  RESURRECTION 

he  was  unable  to  accept.  His  time  was  too  much  occupied. 
As  he  withdrew  to  the  reception-room,  his  face  looked 
very  grave  and  melancholy. 

"What  affectation!"  remarked  the  lawyer's  wife  after 
he  had  left  the  room. 

In  the  reception-room  the  assistant  handed  Nekhliidof 
the  petition,  and  to  his  question  concerning  the  fee  replied 
that  Anatole  Petrdvitch  said  it  would  be  one  thousand 
roubles,  adding  that  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  lawyer  was  not 
by  way  of  taking  cases  of  that  sort,  but  he  had  made  an 
exception  in  Nekhliidof 's  favor. 

"And  who  is  to  sign  this  petition?"  asked  Nekhliidof. 

"The  petitioner  herself  or  Anatole  Petrdvitch  could 
sign  it,  if  he  got  the  power  of  attorney." 

"Then  I  think  it  would  be  better  to  get  her  signature," 
said  Nekhliidof,  rejoicing  at  the  opportunity  of  seeing  her 
before  the  visiting  day. 

XLVI. 

AT  the  usual  hour  the  wardens  blew  their  whistles  in  the 
prison  corridor,  the  grated  iron  doors  of  the  cells  rattled, 
bare  feet  pattered  and  clicking  heels  resounded  through 
the  corridor,  where  the  removal  of  the  refuse  tubs  filled 
the  air  with  an  unendurable  stench.  The  prisoners,  after 
they  had  washed  and  dressed,  filed  out  into  the  corridors 
for  roll  call,  and  then  went  to  fetch  boiling  water  to  make 
their  tea. 

At  tea  time  the  only  subject  talked  about  was  the  im 
pending  punishment  of  two  convicts  who  were  going  to  be 
flogged  that  day.  One,  Vassiliev,  a  young  man  educated 
in  a  way,  was  a  clerk  who  had  killed  his  mistress  in  a  fit 
of  jealousy.  He  was  liked  by  his  mates  not  only  because 
he  was  cheerful  and  generous,  but  because  he  was  firm 
with  the  overseers.  He  knew  the  laws  and  insisted  that 
they  should  be  maintained,  and  that  was  the  reason  why 
the  overseers  disliked  him.  Three  weeks  ago  a  warden  had 


RESURRECTION  199 

struck  a  man  for  spilling  something  on  his  new  uniform. 
Vassiliev  took  the  man's  part;  he  declared  that  it  was 
against  the  law  to  strike  a  prisoner. 

"I'll  teach  you  the  law!"  said  the  warden,  and  he  called 
him  all  sorts  of  names.  Vassiliev  replied  in  kind.  The 
warden  was  going  to  hit  him,  but  Vassiliev  seized  the 
former  by  the  hand,  held  it  fast  for  a  few  seconds,  then 
turned  him  around  and  pushed  him  outside  the  door.  The 
warden  entered  a  complaint  against  the  prisoner,  and  the 
Inspector  ordered  him  into  solitary  confinement. 

The  solitary  cells  consisted  of  a  series  of  small,  dark 
rooms,  stone  cold,  with  doors  bolted  on  the  outside,  con 
taining  neither  beds,  chairs,  nor  tables.  The  prisoner  was 
compelled  to  sit  or  lie  upon  the  filthy  floor,  where  numer 
ous  rats  ran  over  him,  so  bold,  that  it  was  hard  to  keep 
them  from  snatching  the  bread  out  of  his  very  hands. 
Indeed,  they  often  attacked  the  prisoners  themselves  when 
the  latter  were  lying  motionless.  Vassiliev  refused  to  go 
into  the  solitary  cell,  declaring  all  the  while  that  he  was 
not  guilty.  The  wardens  had  recourse  to  violence.  A 
struggle  ensued  and  two  of  his  mates  helped  Vassiliev 
to  free  himself  from  the  wardens.  Then  all  the  wardens, 
including  Petrov,  who  was  renowned  for  his  strength,  got 
together  and  the  prisoners  were  overpowered  and  pushed 
into  the  cells.  The  Governor  was  immediately  notified 
that  something  like  a  mutiny  had  taken  place ;  and  a  writ 
ten  order  was  received  from  him  directing  them  to  flog  the 
two  principal  culprits,  Vassiliev  and  the  vagrant  Nepo- 
niantzov,  giving  each  thirty  strokes  of  the  rod.  This 
punishment  was  to  take  place  in  the  women's  inter- 
viewing-room. 

All  this  had  been  learned  the  night  before,  and  the  im 
pending  punishment  excited  the  most  animated  discus 
sions, 

Korabldva,  Horoshavka,  Fed6sya,  and  Maslova  sat  in 
their  corners,  a  good  deal  flushed  and  excited,  having  al 
ready  been  drinking  vodka,  which  Mdslova  now  kept  on 


200  RESURRECTION 

hand  all  the  time  and  with  which  she  generously  treated 
her  friends.  They  were  chatting  over  their  tea. 

"He  never  made  any  disturbance,"  said  Korabl6va, 
referring  to  Vassiliev,  and  biting  a  piece  of  sugar  with  her 
strong  teeth.  "  He  just  stood  up  for  his  mate,  'cause  it's 
against  the  law  now  to  strike  a  prisoner." 

"I  have  heard  them  say  what  a  fine  fellow  he  is,"  re 
marked  Fedosya.  She  was  sitting  on  a  log  of  wood  be 
side*  the  tea-pot.  She  wore  neither  cap  nor  kerchief  over 
her  thick  plaits  of  hair. 

"Why  not  tell  him  about  it,  Mikhdilovna  ?"  said  the 
signal-woman  to  M£slova;  "him"  meant  Nekhludof. 

"I  will.  He'll  do  anything  for  me,"  replied  Maslova, 
tossing  her  head. 

"Yes,  when  he  comes;  but  they  have  gone  to  fetch  the 
poor  fellow  already.  It's  awful!"  said  Fedosya,  with  a 
sigh.  "I  saw  a  peasant  flogged  in  the  Volostnoe1  once. 
My  father-in-law  sent  me,  and  lo,  when  I  got  there  he  was 

being "  said  the  signal-woman,  beginning  on  a  long 

story. 

She  was  interrupted  by  the  sound  of  steps  and  voices  in 
the  corridor  of  the  story  overhead. 

The  women  stopped  talking,  and  listened. 

"  Those  devils  have  got  him.  He'll  catch  it  now.  The 
wardens  have  a  grudge  against  him  because  he  tries  to 
make  them  keep  within  the  law." 

Now,  all  was  still  upstairs,  and  the  signal-woman  went 
on  with  her  story,  telling  them  how  frightened  she  was 
when  she  got  to  the  Volostnde,  where  she  saw  the  peasant 
flogged  in  the  barn,  and  how  her  heart  revolted  at  the  sight. 
Then  HoroshaVka  told  how  Stchegl6f  never  made  a 
sound  when  he  was  whipped.  Fed6sya  put  away  the  tea 
things  and  while  the  two  other  women  took  up  their  sew 
ing,  Mdslova  still  remained  seated  on  the  bunk  hugging 
her  knees  and  looking  disconsolate.  She  was  just 

1  Village  police  station.  —  Tn. 


RESURRECTION  201 

thinking  she  would  lie  down  when  the  matron  called  her 
into  the  office  to  see  a  visitor. 

"Now  you  be  sure  and  tell  about  us,"  said  old  Men- 
shdva,  while  Maslova  stood  arranging  her  kerchief  before 
an  old  looking-glass  with  the  quicksilver  half  rubbed  off. 
"  It's  not  we  who  set  it  on  fire,  but  that  villain  of  a  man. 
And  the  workmen  saw  him  do  it.  Well,  he  can't  destroy 
our  souls.  Tell  him  to  ask  for  Dmitri;  he'll  tell  him  just 
how  it  was.  Here  we  are  locked  up,  while  that  rascal  is 
feasting  in  pot-houses  with  another  man's  wife." 

"That's  against  the  law,"  declared  Korabldva,  in  the 
tone  of  one  who  confirms  a  statement. 

"I  shall  certainly  tell  him,"  replied  Maslova.  "What 
if  I  take  one  more  drop,  just  to  keep  up  my  courage  ?"  she 
added,  with  a  wink. 

Korabl6va  half  filled  another  cup,  which  Maslova  swal 
lowed,  and  having  wiped  her  lips  repeated  the  words,  "  to 
keep  up  my  courage."  Smiling  in  high  good  humor  and 
tossing  her  head,  she  followed  the  matron  into  the  corridor. 

XLVII. 

NEKHLtJDOF  had  been  waiting  in  the  entry  for  some 
time.  On  his  arrival  he  had  rung  at  the  entrance  door 
and  handed  to  the  warden  on  duty  the  pass  he  had  re 
ceived  from  the  Prosecutor. 

"Whom  do  you  wish  to  see?" 

"The  prisoner  Maslova." 

"You  can't  see  her  just  now.     The  Inspector  is  busy." 

"Is  he  in  his  office?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"No,  he  is  in  the  intervie wing-room,"  replied  the  war 
den,  and  Nekhliidof  noticed  that  his  manner  seemed 
somewhat  confused. 

"Why,  is  this  a  visiting  day?" 

"No,  he  is  attending  to  some  special  business,"  he  re 
plied. 

"  How  can  I  see  him  then  ?" 


202  RESURRECTION 

"He  will  come  out  presently;  then  you  can  state  your 
business.  You  will  have  to  wait  awhile." 

Just  then  a  sergeant-major,  with  glistening  shoulder- 
straps,  a  beaming  countenance,  and  mustache  redolent  of 
tobacco  smoke,  came  out  from  the  side  door  and  said 
sternly  to  the  warden: 

"  Why  did  you  admit  any  one  here  ?  You  should  have 
taken  him  to  the  office." 

"I  was  told  the  Inspector  was  not  there,"  replied 
Nekhliidof,  surprised  at  the  signs  of  uneasiness  that  were 
also  evident  in  the  manner  of  the  sergeant-major. 

At  this  moment  the  inner  door  was  opened  and  Petrov, 
heated  and  perspiring,  came  out  of  it.  "He'll  not  forget 
that  in  a  hurry!"  he  said,  addressing  the  sergeant-major, 
who  by  a  swift  glance  drew  Petr6v's  attention  to  Ne 
khliidof. 

Petr6v  said  no  more,  but  turned  away  frowning,  and 
went  out  through  the  back  door.  "  Who  will  not  forget 
what?  Why  are  they  so  confused?  Why  did  the  ser 
geant  make  that  sign  to  him  ?"  thought  Nekhludof. 

"It's  against  the  rules  to  wait  here;  will  you  please 
go  into  the  office  ?"  said  the  sergeant-major  to  Nekhludof, 
who  was  about  to  do  so,  when  the  Inspector  came  in 
through  the  door  in  the  rear. 

He  was  panting  heavily  and  seemed  even  more  agitated 
than  his  subordinates. 

On  seeing  Nekhludof  he  said  to  the  warden,  "Feddtof, 
send  to  women's  ward  No.  5,  and  tell  the  matron  to  have 
Mdslova  brought  to  the  office." 

"Will  you  come  with  me,  sir?"  he  added,  turning  to 
Nekhliidof. 

They  descended  a  steep  staircase  and  entered  a  small 
room  lighted  by  one  window. 

It  was  furnished  with  a  writing-desk  and  a  few  chairs. 
The  Inspector  seated  himself  in  one  of  them.  "Ah,  my 
duties  are  too  hard,"  he  said,  taking  out  a  large  cigarette 
and  turning  to  Nekhludof,  as  he  spoke. 


RESURRECTION  203 

"You  seem  to  be  very  much  fatigued,"  said  Nekhliidof. 

"Yes,  I  am  tired  of  the  whole  business,  my  duties  are 
too  hard.  The  easier  I  try  to  make  it  for  the  prisoners 
the  worse  it  grows.  I  am  racking  my  brains  to  discover 
some  way  of  getting  out  of  it;  hard,  hard  duties!" 

Nekhliidof  did  not  of  course  know  what  made  these 
duties  so  hard,  but  he  could  not  help  pitying  the  man, 
he  seemed  so  forlorn  and  dejected. 

"Yes,  they  must  be,"  he  said;  "but  why  do  you  stay 
here?" 

"I  have  a  family,  and  no  other  means." 

"But  if  the  duties  depress  you   ..." 

"  Well,  still,  you  know  in  a  way  I  do  some  good.  I  try 
to  make  it  easier  for  them,  I  do  all  I  can.  Some  men,  in 
my  place,  would  not  be  so  lenient.  Just  think  of  it,  I 
have  two  thousand  persons  under  my  charge.  And  such 
creatures!  One  has  to  know  how  to  deal  with  them. 
After  all  they  are  human  beings,  you  know,  and  yet  one 
cannot  be  too  lenient."  The  Inspector  began  to  describe 
a  recent  fight  among  the  prisoners  which  he  said  had 
ended  in  the  killing  of  one  of  the  men. 

His  story  was  interrupted  by  the  entrance  of  Mdslova, 
preceded  by  a  warden. 

Nekhliidof  saw  her  in  the  doorway  before  she  had 
noticed  the  presence  of  the  Inspector.  Her  face  was  flushed 
and  she  walked  briskly  behind  the  warden,  smiling  and 
tossing  her  head.  When  she  caught  sight  of  the  Inspec 
tor  she  looked  startled  for  a  moment,  but  recovering 
her  cheerful  look  she  went  boldly  up  to  Nekhliidof. 

"  How  do  you  do  ?"  she  said  in  a  drawling  voice,  smil 
ing  as  she  spoke.  She  grasped  his  hand  firmly  and  not 
at  all  as  she  had  done  on  the  former  occasion. 

"I  have  brought  you  a  petition  to  sign,"  said  Nekhlii 
dof,  somewhat  surprised  at  the  free  and  easy  manner 
with  which  she  greeted  him  to-day.  "The  lawyer  has 
drawn  up  the  petition  and  after  you  have  signed  it,  it  will 
be  sent  to  Petersburg." 


204  RESURRECTION 

"All  right,  that  can  be  done,"  she  said,  giving  him  a 
familiar,  laughing  wink. 

Nekhludof  took  the  folded  paper  from  his  pocket  and 
went  to  the  table. 

"May  she  sign  it  here?"  he  asked,  turning  to  the  In 
spector. 

"  Yes,  take  a  seat;  there  is  pen  and  ink.  I  suppose  you 
know  how  to  write  ?"  said  the  Inspector. 

"  Once  upon  a  time  I  could,"  she  said  with  a  laugh  and 
looking  back  at  Nekhludof;  arranging  her  skirt  and  the 
sleeve  of  her  sack,  she  seated  herself  before  the  table  and 
took  the  pen  with  her  short,  energetic  hand. 

He  showed  her  the  place  where  she  was  to  sign,  and 
carefully  dipping  her  pen  into  the  ink,  she  shook  off  a  drop 
or  two  and  proceeded  to  write  her  name. 

"Is  that  all  you  want?"  she  asked,  looking  from  the 
Inspector  to  Nekhliidof ;  and  not  knowing  what  to  do  with 
the  pen,  she  first  put  it  on  the  paper  and  then  moved  it  to 
the  inkstand. 

"I  have  something  to  tell  you,"  said  Nekhliidof,  tak 
ing  the  pen  from  her  hands. 

"Tell  it,  then,"  she  said;  her  expression  suddenly  chang 
ing,  she  looked  quite  grave  and  sedate. 

The  Inspector  arose  and  left  the  room,  and  Nekhliidof 
remained  with  her  face  to  face. 

XLVIII. 

THE  warden  who  had  brought  Maslova  in  was  sitting 
on  the  window  seat,  at  some  distance  from  the  table.  And 
now  the  moment  had  come.  Nekhludof  had  never  ceased 
to  blame  himself  for  not  having  uttered  the  principal 
thought  that  was  in  his  mind  during  his  first  interview 
with  her, — that  he  intended  to  marry  her,  but  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  tell  her  now.  She  was  seated  on  one 
side  of  the  table  and  Nekhliidof  sat  directly  opposite,  fac 
ing  her.  The  room  was  light,  and  for  the  first  time  he 


RESURRECTION  205 

could  see  her  face  distinctly;  he  noticed  her  puffy  eyelids 
and  every  wrinkle  round  her  eyes  and  moxith,  and  he 
pitied  her  more  than  ever.  Leaning  across  the  table  so  as 
not  to  be  heard  by  the  warden, — a  man  of  Hebrew  type 
with  grayish  whiskers,  who  sat  by  the  window, — he  said: 

"If  this  petition  should  fail,  we  shall  appeal  to  the 
Emperor.  Everything  possible  will  be  done." 

"It  ought  to  have  been  done  before,"  she  interrupted; 
"  if  I  had  a  decent  lawyer  .  .  .  My  lawyer  was  an  idiot. 
All  he  did  was  to  pay  me  compliments,"  she  said,  laugh 
ing.  "If  it  had  been  known  at  that  time  that  we  were 
old  acquaintances,  it  would  have  made  a  vast  difference 
to  me.  Now  everybody  thinks  that  I  was  one  of  the 
thieves." 

"How  strangely  she  behaves  to-day,"  he  thought,  and 
was  just  about  to  speak  what  was  in  his  mind,  when  she 
began : 

"  Oh,  I  wanted  to  tell  you  something.  There  is  a  nice 
old  woman  here;  every  one,  don't  you  know,  is  surprised 
to  see  her  here.  She  is  a  good  old  thing,  and  she  and  her 
son  are  perfectly  innocent.  They  were  accused  of  arson. 
When  she  heard  that  I  was  acquainted  with  you,"  said 
Mdslova,  with  a  coquettish  turn  of  her  head  and  a  glance 
at  Nekhliidof,  "she  says  to  me:  'Ask  him  to  call  for  my 
son;  he  will  tell  him  the  whole  story/  Menshof  is  their 
name.  Will  you  do  this  ?  She  is  a  dear  old  woman,  and 
it  is  plain  enough  that  she  is  innocent.  So  you'll  be  a 
good  boy,  won't  you,  and  do  this  for  me,"  she  added,  with 
an  upward  glance;  and  suddenly  letting  her  eyes  drop,  she 
smiled. 

"Yes,  I  will  look  up  the  case,"  said  Nekhliidof,  marvel 
ing  more  and  more  at  her  easy-going  manner.  "But  I 
wish  to  speak  to  you  about  my  own  affairs.  Do  you  re 
member  what  I  said  to  you  the  last  time  ?"  he  asked. 

"You  said  all  sorts  of  things.  What  was  it?"  she 
asked,  still  smiling  and  turning  her  head,  first  on  one  side, 
then  on  the  other. 


206  RESURRECTION 

"I  told  you  that  I  had  come  to  ask  your  forgiveness," 
he  said. 

"What  are  you  forever  talking  about  forgiveness  —  for 
giveness  ?  That's  neither  here  nor  there  ....  you  had 
better " 

"  I  wish  to  atone  for  my  evil  doing,  not  by  words  alone 
but  by  deeds.  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  marry 
you "  continued  Nekhludof. 

Her  face  took  on  an  expression  of  terror  and  her  squint 
ing  eyes  gazed  rigidly  in  his  direction;  yet  he  could  not 
tell  whether  she  was  looking  at  him  or  not. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that?"  she  asked,  frowning 
angrily. 

"  I  cannot  be  reconciled  to  the  Lord  until  I  have  done 
this  thing." 

"The  Lord!  What  Lord  have  you  found?  You  are 
talking  nonsense.  .  .  .  The  Lord!  Indeed!  you 

should  have  remembered  Him  when "  she  said,  and 

paused  open-mouthed. 

It  was  not  till  then  that  Nekhludof,  smelling  her  breath, 
realized  the  cause  of  her  excitement. 

"  Calm  yourself,"  he  said. 

"I  am  calm  enough.  Dost  thou  think  that  I  am  drunk  ? 
Perhaps  I  am,  but  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about!" 
Her  face  turned  scarlet,  but  she  went  on  talking  as  fast  as 
she  could  utter  the  words.  "I  am  a  convict,  a  miserable 
woman,  and  you  are  a  gentleman  and  a  Prince,  and  you 
have  no  business  to  mix  yourself  up  with  me.  Go  to  your 
lady  princesses.  You  can  buy  me,  any  time,  for  a  ten- 
rouble  note." 

"Say  all  the  cruel  things  you  choose,  you  can  never 
understand  what  I  am  feeling,"  said  Nekhludof,  in  a 
tremulous  undertone.  "  You  cannot  imagine  how  deeply 
I  feel  my  guilt  towards  you!  —  " 

"Feel  your  guilt "  she  mimicked  him  angrily. 

"You  did  not  feel  it  then;  you  flung  a  hundred-rouble 
note  at  me!     Take  that;  that's  your  price " 


RESURRECTION  207 

"I  know  it,  I  know  it!  But  I  can't  help  it  now.  I 
have  made  up  my  mind  not  to  forsake  you,  and  I  shall  do 
as  I  have  said,"  replied  Nekhludof. 

"  But  you  won't,  I  tell  you,"  she  answered,  and  laughed 
audibly. 

"Katusha!"  he  said,  touching  her  hand. 

"  Go  away!  I  am  a  convict  and  you  are  a  Prince;  you 
have  no  business  to  be  here!"  she  said,  transformed  with 
rage  and  pulling  away  her  hand.  "You  want  me  to  be 
the  instrument  of  your  salvation,"  she  went  hurrying  on 
as  if  she  must  pour  forth  every  feeling  of  her  soul.  "I 
have  served  you  in  this  life,  and  now  you  expect  me  to 
serve  you  as  a  means  for  getting  to  heaven!  I  loathe 
you!  and  your  spectacles  and  your  fat,  disgusting  face! 
Clear  out!"  she  cried,  springing  to  her  feet. 

Here  the  warden  came  up. 

"What  are  you  making  this  disturbance  for?  You'd 
better  take  care 

"Never  mind,  let  her  alone "  said  Nekhludof. 

"  She's  got  to  mind  what  she's  about,"  said  the  warden. 

"Please  go  back,"  said  Nekhludof. 

The  warden  withdrew  to  the  window.  Ma'slova  re 
sumed  her  seat,  interlacing  her  little  fingers  and  letting 
her  eyes  fall. 

Nekhludof  remained  standing;  he  hardly  knew  what  to 
say  next. 

"Then  you  don't  believe  me?"  he  began. 

"That  you  mean  to  marry  me?  That  can  never  be! 
I'd  rather  hang  myself.  So,  now,  you  know." 

"And  still  I  shall  go  on  serving  you." 

"  You  may  do  as  you  like  about  that,  but  I  want  noth 
ing  from  you !  I'm  telling  you  the  truth,"  she  said.  "  Oh, 
why  didn't  I  die  then!"  she  added,  bursting  out  with  a 
pitiful  wail. 

Nekhludof  could  not  speak;  her  tears  were  contagious. 
She  raised  her  eyes,  looked  at  him  and  seemed  surprised. 
Then  she  wiped  away  her  own  tears  with  her  kerchief. 


2o8  RESURRECTION 

The  warden  again  came  up  to  tell  them  that  it  was  time 
to  part. 

M£slova  rose. 

"  You  are  excited  now.  If  I  possibly  can  I  shall  again 
come  to-morrow,  and  you  must  be  thinking  it  over,"  he 
said. 

She  made  no  reply,  and  without  giving  him  another 
glance  she  followed  the  warden  out  of  the  room. 

"Well,  lassie,  you're  going  to  have  fine  times  now!" 
exclaimed  Korabldva  when  Mdslova  returned  to  her  cell. 
"  He  must  be  quite  smitten  with  you.  Make  the  most  of 
your  chances  while  you  have  him  in  tow.  He'll  get  you 
out!  Rich  men  can  do  anything!" 

"That's  so,"  said  the  signal-woman  in  her  rhythmical 
voice.  "  A  poor  man  must  think  twice  before  he  marries, 
but  a  rich  man  has  only  to  say  what  he  wants  and  he 
gets  it.  A  respectable  man  up  our  way,  I  want  to  tell 
you,  birdie,  he " 

"Did  you  tell  him  about  me?"  asked  the  old  woman. 

But  M&slova  answered  never  a  word.  She  threw  her 
self  down  on  the  bunk,  and,  fixing  her  squinting  eyes  on 
the  corner  of  the  room,  she  lay  there  till  night.  A  painful 
struggle  was  going  on  in  her  mind.  What  Nekhludof 
said  to  her  had  awakened  memories  that  she  hated,  and 
the  voice  of  her  soul,  which  she  had  never  understood,  was 
speaking;  it  reminded  her  of  all  she  had  suffered;  it 
called  her  back  to  her  true  self.  But  the  recollection  of 
the  past  was  too  painful  to  be  borne.  Towards  night 
she  bought  some  more  liquor  and  drank  with  her  friends. 

XLIX. 

"AND  this  is  what  it  has  come  to!"  thought Nekhlddof 
as  he  left  the  prison.  Never  until  now  had  he  realized 
the  enormity  of  his  crime.  Had  he  not  made  an  attempt 
to  atone  for  his  wrong-doing,  he  never  would  have  dis 
covered  how  very  wicked  he  had  been.  Nor  would  M£s- 


RESURRECTION  209 

lova  have  realized  just  how  much  she  had  been  wronged. 
But  now  the  whole  affair  had  been  dragged  to  the  light 
and  revealed  in  all  its  horror.  Now  that  he  perceived 
what  he  had  done  to  this  woman's  soul,  she  too  under 
stood  how  deeply  she  had  been  sinned  against.  Until 
now  Nekhludof  had  rather  admired  himself  for  his  re 
pentance  and  virtuous  intention;  but  the  moment  had 
come  when  he  felt  an  actual  horror  of  himself. 

Should  he  give  her  up  ?  No,  that  he  could  never  do ; 
and  yet  he  had  not  the  remotest  idea  how  it  would  end. 

As  he  was  leaving  the  prison  a  warden  decorated  with 
crosses  and  medals  approached  him  rather  mysteriously 
and  putting  a  note  into  his  hand,  said  in  an  insinuating 
voice : 

"Here's  a  note  for  your  Excellency  from  a  certain 
person." 

"What  person?" 

"You  will  know  when  you  have  read  it.  She  is  a 
political  prisoner,  and  I  am  in  charge  of  her.  She  asked 
me,  and  although  it  is  contrary  to  the  rules,  still  for 

humanity's  sake "  There  was  a  perceptible  tone 

of  constraint  in  the  warden's  voice. 

Nekhludof  was  surprised.  He  could  not  see  how  a 
warden  whose  duty  it  was  to  guard  political  prisoners, 
could  be  delivering  notes  right  here  in  the  jail,  in  such  a 
public  manner;  he  did  not  know  then,  that  this  warden 
was  at  the  same  time  a  spy,  that  he  also  had  taken  the 
note  and  read  it.  It  was  written  in  pencil  with  a  bold 
hand,  and  it  ran  as  follows:  " Hearing  that  you  visit  the 
jail  because  you  take  an  interest  in  one  of  the  convicts,  I 
am  very  anxious  to  see  you.  If  you  ask  permission  to  see 
me,  it  will  be  granted,  and  I  shall  be  able  to  communicate 
to  you  much  that  is  of  importance  to  you  personally  and  to 
our  society.  Yours  gratefully,  Ve'ra  Bogoduhovsky." 

Vera  Bogoduhovsky  had  been  a  teacher  in  the  out-of- 
the-way  Novgorod  Government  where  Nekhludof  had 
once  gone  bear-hunting  with  his  friends.  He  remembered 

VOL.    I. — 14 


2io  RESURRECTION 

her  as  a  girl  who  had  asked  him  to  lend  her  money  that 
she  might  attend  Women's  Classes.1  Nekhliidof  had 
granted  her  request  and  then  forgotten  all  about  her. 
Now  it  had  come  about  that  this  damsel  was  a  political 
prisoner,  who  having  heard  about  him  offered  him  her 
services. 

How  simple  life  was  then,  and  how  distressing  and 
complex  it  had  since  become!  Nekhludof  recalled  those 
days  and  his  acquaintance  with  Bogoduhovsky  with  real 
satisfaction.  It  was  just  before  carnival  week,  in  the  prov 
ince,  some  sixty  miles  away  from  any  railroad.  The  hunt 
had  been  successful;  two  bears  had  been  killed  and  the 
men  were  eating  dinner  before  starting  for  home,  when 
the  owner  of  the  hut,  where  they  had  put  up,  came  in  to 
say  that  the  deacon's  daughter  was  outside,  asking  to  see 
the  Prince. 

"Is  she  pretty?"  inquired  one  of  the  men.  "Don't 
be  stupid!"  Nekhludof  had  answered,  as  he  rose  from 
the  table,  with  a  serious  face,  wondering  what  the  dea 
con's  daughter  could  want  of  him. 

When  he  entered  the  room  occupied  by  the  proprietor, 
he  saw  a  young  girl  wearing  a  felt  hat  and  a  warm  winter 
cloak,  an  athletic-looking  creature,  ugly,  all  but  her  eyes 
and  arching  brows,  which  were  fine. 

"Now  you  have  a  chance  to  speak  with  him,  Ve'ra 
Efre'movna;  this  is  the  Prince  himself,  and  I  will  leave 
you  with  him." 

"  What  can  I  do  for  you  ?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"  I  .  .  .  I  .  .  .  You  are  a  rich  man,  you  know,  and 
squandering  money  on  all  sorts  of  things,  on  hunting  .  .  . 
and  I  have  but  one  desire  in  the  world  ...  I  want  to  be 
useful  to  mankind;  I  can  do  nothing  because  I  am  so 
ignorant." 

Her  eyes  were  so  friendly  and  sincere  and  her  whole 
attitude  of  mingled  determination  and  timidity  was  so 

'The  highest  educational  institution  for  women  in  Russia.  — TR. 


RESURRECTION  211 

touching  that,  as  often  happened  with  him,  Nekhliidof 
put  himself  in  her  place  at  once,  and  pitied  her. 

"How  can  I  help  you?" 

"  I  am  a  school-teacher,  but  I  should  like  to  join  'The 
Classes/  and  they  won't  take  me.  That  is  to  say,  they 
would  take  me,  but  I  have  no  money.  If  you  would  be 
willing  to  give  me  what  I  need,  I  could  finish  my  educa 
tion  and  then  I  would  pay  it  back.  I  think  it  is  wrong 
for  the  rich  to  kill  bears  and  encourage  the  peasants  to 
drink.  Why  shouldn't  they  do  some  good?  All  I  want 
is  eighty  roubles.  But  if  you  don't  want  to  give  it  to  me, 
I  don't  care,"  she  said,  speaking  in  a  tone  that  sounded 
rather  severe. 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for 
giving  me  the  opportunity  —  I  will  get  the  money  for 
you  at  once,"  said  Nekhludof. 

He  went  out  into  the  vestibule  and  caught  one  of  his 
friends  listening  at  the  door.  Without  replying  to  the 
jests  of  his  comrades,  he  took  out  the  money  and  gave  it 
to  her. 

"  Please  do  not  thank  me.     It  is  for  me  to  thank  you." 

Nekhludof  recalled  all  this  with  pleasure ;  he  was  glad 
to  remember  how  he  had  almost  quarreled  with  the 
officer  who  wanted  to  turn  the  affair  into  a  vulgar  joke, 
how  another  friend  had  taken  his  part,  thereby  cementing 
the  bonds  of  their  friendship,  and  what  a  merry  and  happy 
time  they  had  when  they  returned  at  night  to  the  railway 
station.  A  procession  of  sledges  gliding  noiselessly  along 
the  narrow  forest  road,  lined,  now  with  lofty  pines,  now 
with  scrubby  specimens  of  the  same  tree,  heavily  laden 
with  snow;  the  red  glimmer  of  a  light  when  a  fragrant 
cigarette  was  lighted.  Ossip,  the  game-keeper,  runs  from 
sledge  to  sledge,  knee-deep  in  the  snow,  arranging  fur 
robes  and  the  like,  talking  all  the  while  of  elks  which  tramp 
the  deep  snow  and  gnaw  the  aspen  trees,  or  of  bears  which 
are  now  in  their  deep  lairs,  sending  forth  a  stream  of  warm 
vapor  through  the  breathing-holes.  Nekhludof  remem- 


212  RESURRECTION 

bered  this,  but  above  all  else  the  delicious  consciousness 
of  his  own  vigorous  health  and  freedom  from  care.  His 
lungs  inhale  the  frosty  air,  the  snow,  shaken  from  the  trees 
every  time  the  high  duga  strikes  them,  falls  upon  his  face; 
his  body  is  warm,  his  face  refreshed,  and  his  mind,  free 
from  every  care,  anxiety,  or  ungratified  desire,  has  nothing 
for  which  to  reproach  itself.  Ah!  what  a  happy  time  it 
was!  And  now?  How  difficult  and  distressing  every 
thing  had  become ! 

Evidently  Vera  Efre*movna  was  an  anarchist,  impris 
oned  for  some  misdemeanor.  He  was  eager  to  see  her, 
especially  since  she  had  promised  to  advise  him  how  to 
improve  Maslova's  condition. 

L. 

AWAKENING  early  the  next  morning,  Nekhludof  shud 
dered  when  he  called  to  mind  what  had  happened  the  day 
before.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this  sensation  of  fear,  he  was 
more  determined  than  ever  to  go  on  with  what  he  had 
begun. 

Animated  by  a  keen  sense  of  duty,  he  left  his  house  and 
went  to  see  Maslennikof,  in  order  to  obtain  a  permit  to 
visit  not  only  Ma"slova,  but  also  the  old  woman  Mensh6va 
and  her  son,  of  whom  Maslova  had  spoken  to  him.  He 
also  wanted  a  pass  to  see  Bogoduhovsky,  who  promised 
to  be  useful  to  Mdslova. 

Nekhludof  had  known  Mdslennikof  when  they  were  in 
the  regiment  together.  He  was  the  treasurer  at  that  time; 
a  kind-hearted  and  most  punctilious  officer  who  had  not 
an  idea  in  his  head  beyond  the  regiment  and  the  Imperial 
family.  Now  Nekhludof  found  him  in  the  civil  service, 
having  given  up  his  regiment  for  an  office  in  the  admin 
istrative  service.  He  had  married  a  rich  and  energetic 
woman,  who  had  induced  him  to  exchange  the  military 
for  the  civil  service.  She  laughed  at  him  and  caressed 
him  as  if  he  were  a  pet  animal.  Nekhludof  had  spent 


RESURRECTION  213 

one  evening  at  their  house  last  winter  and  had  found 
this  couple  so  uninteresting  that  he  never  repeated  his 
visit. 

Maslennikof  beamed  when  he  saw  Nekhliidof.  His 
face  was  just  as  red  and  fat,  his  figure  just  as  corpulent 
and  his  dress  just  as  correct  as  ever.  In  old  times  he  had 
always  worn  a  carefully  brushed  uniform  made  according 
to  the  latest  fashion,  or  a  tightly  fitting  fatigue  jacket; 
now  he  wore  the  suit  of  a  civilian,  also  made  after  the 
latest  fashion,  fitting  his  well-fed  body  like  a  glove,  and 
showing  off  his  broad  chest.  He  was  dressed  in  a 
civil-service  uniform.  Notwithstanding  the  difference  in 
years  —  Maslennikof  was  about  forty — they  were  on 
intimate  terms. 

"  Hello,  my  boy,  how  good  of  you  to  come !    Let's  go  to 

my  wife.     I  have  just  ten  minutes'  leisure  before  the 

^meeting.     You  know  the  chief  is  away  and  I  am  at  the 

head  of  the  administration,"  he  said  with  a  satisfaction 

he  could  not  conceal. 

"I  have  come  on  business." 

"Ah,  what  is  it?"  he  asked,  taking  alarm;  and  putting 
himself  instantly  on  his  guard,  he  assumed  a  severely 
judicial  expression  of  countenance. 

"There  is  a  person  in  jail"  (at  the  word  "jail"  the  face 
of  Maslennikof  looked  more  severe  than  ever),  "and  I 
should  like  to  see  her,  not  in  the  interviewing-room  but  in 
the  office,  and  not  only  at  the  hours  appointed  for  visitors 
but  whenever  I  feel  inclined.  I  was  told  that  this  de 
pended  on  you." 

"Of  course,  mon  cher,  I  shall  be  glad  to  do  all  I  can 
for  you,"  said  Maslennikof,  touching  Nekhludof's  knees 
with  his  hands,  as  though  wishing  to  minimize  his  own 
greatness.  "  I  can  do  this,  but  you  must  remember  that 
I  am  only  the  caliph  of  an  hour." 

"  Then  will  you  give  me  this  pass  so  that  I  can  see  her  ?" 

"Then  it's  a  woman?" 

"Yes." 


2i4  RESURRECTION 

"What  is  she  there  for?" 

"For  poisoning.  But  she  has  been  condemned  un 
justly." 

"Yes,  there's  your  righteous  Court.  Us  ri*  en  font  point 
d'autres"  he  said  in  French.  "I  know  that  you  don't 
agree  with  me,  but  nevertheless  Jest  mon  opinion  lien 
arr&ee"  he  added,  voicing  an  opinion  which  he  had  seen 
for  a  year  in  different  forms  in  a  certain  retrograde  and 
Conservative  paper.  "I  know  you  are  a  Liberal." 

"  I  am  sure  I  don't  know  whether  I  am  a  Liberal  or  not," 
replied  Nekhludof,  smiling  always  surprised  to  find  him 
self  classed  with  a  party,  or  called  a  Liberal,  just  because 
he  believed  that  all  men  are  equal  before  the  law,  that  no 
man  has  a  right  to  beat  or  otherwise  torture  his  fellow- 
men,  and  particularly  those  whom  the  law  has  not  yet 
pronounced  guilty.  "I  do  not  know  whether  I  am  a 
Liberal  or  not;  but  I  know  one  thing,  that  the  present 
Courts,  defective  though  they  may  be,  are  preferable  to 
those  of  former  days." 

"And  what  lawyer  have  you  engaged?" 

"Fanarin." 

"Ah,  Fandrin!"  said  Maslennikof  with  a  grimace.  He 
had  not  forgotten  an  experience  of  his  own  last  year  when 
for  half  an  hour  this  same  Fanarin  had  cross-examined 
him  as  a  witness  and,  with  the  utmost  politeness,  had 
made  him  appear  like  a  fool. 

"I  should  advise  you  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  him. 
Fandrin  est  un  homme  tare." 

"I  have  one  more  request  to  make,"  said  Nekhludof, 
ignoring  Mdslennikof's  last  remark.  "  Some  time  ago  I 
knew  a  young  girl,  a  school-teacher, — she  is  much  to  be 
pitied;  she  too  is  in  prison;  she  wishes  to  see  me.  Could 
you  give  me  a  pass  to  see  her  ?" 

Mdslennikof  bent  his  head  on  one  side  and  thought  a 
moment. 

"Is  she  a  political  prisoner?" 

"Yes,  I  have  been  told  so." 


RESURRECTION  215 

"Well,  you  see  the  passes  to  see  the  'politicals'  are  only 
given  to  relatives,  but  I  will  give  you  a  general  pass.  Je 
sais  que  vous  n'abuserez  pas.  .  .  .  What  is  your  pro- 
tegeVs  name?  .  .  .  Bogoduhovsky  ?  Elle  est  jolie?" 

"Hideuse." 

Maslennikof  shook  his  head  disapprovingly.  Then  he 
went  to  the  table  and  wrote  on  a  sheet  of  official  paper: 
"The  bearer,  Prince  Dmitri  Ivanovitch  Nekhludof,  is 
hereby  granted  leave  to  visit  in  the  office  of  the  prison  the 
mezchdnka  Mdslova  and  the  medical  student  Bogo 
duhovsky."  He  added  a  final  flourish  to  his  signature. 

"You  will  see  what  order  reigns  there.  And  it  is  not 
an  easy  thing  to  maintain  order  in  a  place  like  that, 
because  the  prison  is  filled  largely  with  convicts  who  are 
there  only  temporarily;  but  I  am  very  vigilant  and  I  am 
interested  in  the  business.  You  will  see  how  well  they 
are  treated,  and  how  contented  they  are.  But  one  must 
know  how  to  manage  them.  We  had  a  case  of  insubor 
dination  not  long  ago.  Another  man  in  my  place  might 
have  called  it  mutiny  and  made  no  end  of  unhappy  victims. 
Whereas  with  us,  everything  passed  off  quietly.  It  requires 
care  and  a  firm  authority,"  he  went  on,  clenching  the  fat 
white  fist, — a  conspicuous  turquoise  ring  adorned  one 
finger  —  that  emerged  from  the  gold-linked,  stiffly  starched 
cuff  of  his  shirt  sleeve.  "Yes,  care  and  authority,"  he 
repeated. 

"  Well,  I  am  ignorant  of  these  matters,"  said  Nekhludof. 
"I  have  been  there  twice  and  felt  greatly  depressed." 

"  Do  you  know,  you  should  get  acquainted  with  Count 
ess  Passek,"  went  on  Maslennikof,  waxing  talkative. 
"  She  has  devoted  herself  to  this  work.  Elle  fait  beaucoup 
de  bien.  It  is  due  to  her,  and  I  think  I  may  say  without 
false  modesty,  to  me,  that  all  these  changes  have  come 
about;  the  horrors  of  former  days  have  entirely  disap 
peared,  and  you  will  find  that  the  prisoners  are  com 
fortable  now.  You  will  see  for  yourself.  Now  take  this 
Fanarin — I  don't  know  him  personally,  and  of  course 


216  RESURRECTION 

my  social  position  keeps  our  ways  apart, — well,  he  is 
positively  a  bad  man,  and  moreover  he  allows  himself  to 
say  such  things  in  Court,  such  things  .  .  . " 

"  Well,  I  am  much  obliged,"  said  Nekhludof,  taking  the 
paper,  and  without  seeming  to  realize  that  Maslennikof 
was  still  talking,  bade  his  former  comrade  good-by. 

"Won't  you  go  in  to  see  my  wife?" 

"I  must  beg  you  to  excuse  me;  I  am  really  pressed  for 
time  just  now." 

"She'll  never  forgive  me  for  not  bringing  you  hi,"  said 
Mdslennikof,  accompanying  his  old  comrade  to  the  first 
landing,  as  was  his  custom  with  persons  whom  he  con 
sidered  of  second  importance,  with  whom  he  classed 
Nekhludof.  "  Now  do  go  in  for  a  minute." 

But  Nekhludof  remained  firm,  and  while  the  door 
keeper  and  the  footman  were  fetching  his  coat  and  cane 
and  opening  the  door,  outside  of  which  a  policeman  stood 
on  guard,  Nekhludof  kept  repeating  what  he  had  already 
said. 

"  Well,  then,  come  Thursday.  That's  her  day  at  home. 
I  shall  tell  her  you're  coming,"  shouted  M&slennikof  from 
the  stairs. 

LI. 

NEKHLUDOF  lost  no  time  that  day.  He  went  directly 
from  Maslennikof  to  the  Prison  Inspector's  lodging. 
Again  he  heard  the  familiar  sound  of  the  inferior  piano; 
this  time  it  was  not  Liszt's  Rhapsodic  but  dementi's 
Studies  that  were  being  played,  with  unusual  power, 
clearness,  and  rapidity.  The  maid  with  the  bandaged 
eye,  who  opened  the  door,  said  that  the  Captain  was  at 
home  and  ushered  Nekhliidof  into  a  small  parlor  furnished 
with  a  sofa  and  table.  A  tall  lamp  with  a  pink  shade 
scorched  on  one  side  stood  on  a  sort  of  crocheted  mat. 
The  Inspector  met  him  with  a  sad  and  wearied  expression 
on  his  face. 


RESURRECTION  217 

"Please  take  a  seat;  what  can  I  do  for  you  ?" 

"I  have  just  come  from  the  Vice- Governor  and  I  bring 
his  permit.  I  should  like  to  see  Maslova,"  said  Nekhlu*- 
dof,  handing  him  the  paper. 

"Markova?"  asked  the  Inspector,  who  didn't  quite 
catch  the  name  as  the  piano-playing  was  so  deafening. 

"Maslova." 

"Oh,  yes." 

The  Inspector  rose  and  went  to  the  door  through  which 
the  torrent  of  dementi's  roulades  came  pouring  in. 

"Stop  a  moment,  Mariissya.  It's  impossible  to  hear 
ourselves  speak !"  The  tone  of  his  voice  said  more  plainly 
ihan  words,  "Your  practicing  is  the  bane  of  my  life." 

The  playing  ceased;  impatient  footsteps  were  heard 
and  somebody  came  and  peeped  through  the  door. 

Apparently  relieved  by  the  cessation  of  the  music,  the 
Inspector  lighted  a  thick  cigarette  of  mild  tobacco  and 
offered  one  to  Nekhludof,  who  declined  it. 

"I  should  like  to  see  Maslova." 

"  Certainly.  Well,  what  do  you  want  here  ?"  he  added, 
turning  to  a  little  girl,  five  or  six  years  old,  who  had  just 
come  into  the  room.  She  ran  up  to  her  father,  but  her 
eyes  were  fixed  on  Nekhludof,  as  if  she  couldn't  lose 
sight  of  him  for  a  moment.  "Look  out  where  you're 
going,"  cried  the  father,  as  the  child  tripped  over  a  rug. 

"Then  may  I  go  now?" 

"I  doubt  if  you  will  be  able  to  see  Maslova  to-day," 
said  the  Inspector. 

"Why  not?" 

"  Well,  I'm  afraid  you're  responsible  for  the  present 
state  of  affairs,"  he  replied,  with  a  scarcely  perceptible 
smile;  "please  don't  give  her  any  more  money,  Prince. 
If  you  wish  to  help  her  in  that  way,  give  it  to  me.  I  will 
see  that  she  gets  it.  You  see,  yesterday,  you  probably 
gave  her  some  money,  which  she  used  to  buy  wine.  It's 
impossible  to  eradicate  this  evil, — and  to-day  she  is 
quite  drunk,  even  boisterous." 


218  RESURRECTION 

" Can  it  be  possible?" 

"Indeed  it  is;  I  was  obliged  to  use  harsh  measures  and 
we  had  to  remove  her  to  another  cell.  As  a  rule  she  is 
very  good-natured,  but  please  don't  give  her  any  more 
money.  I  tell  you  these  people  are " 

Nekhliidof  remembered  the  events  of  the  previous 
day,  and  again  a  feeling  of  horror  came  over  him. 

"Then  may  I  see  Bogoduhovsky,  the  political  prisoner  ?" 
he  asked  after  a  moment's  pause. 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  the  Inspector,  embracing  the  child,  who 
was  still  staring  at  Nekhliidof.  Then  he  rose,  gently 
putting  her  aside,  and  went  out  into  the  entry. 

Even  before  he  left  the  house,  while  the  bandaged 
servant  girl  was  helping  him  with  his  overcoat,  he  could 
hear  the  clear-cut  roulades  of  dementi's  beginning 
again. 

"  She  has  studied  in  the  Conservatory,  but  everything 
is  in  such  a  muddle  there.  She  is  talented  and  hopes  to 
play  in  concerts,"  remarked  the  Inspector,  as  he  descended 
the  stairs. 

As  Nekhludof  and  the  Inspector  walked  towards  the 
prison,  the  small  gate  flew  open  at  their  approach.  The 
wardens,  raising  their  fingers  to  their  visors,  followed  the 
Inspector  with  their  eyes.  In  the  corridor  they  met 
four  men  with  half-shaved  heads  carrying  something; 
they  cringed  visibly  at  the  sight  of  the  Inspector,  and  one 
man  with  black  eyes  stooped  over,  frowning  gloomily. 

"Of  course  a  talent  like  that  must  be  developed,  it 
ought  not  to  be  buried  in  the  ground,  but,  don't  you  know, 
in  a  small  apartment  it  is  not  always  pleasant,"  continued 
the  Inspector,  who,  paying  no  heed  to  the  prisoners, 
walked  wearily  beside  Nekhludof  until  they  reached  the 
inter  vie  wing-room . 

"  Who  is  it  you  wish  to  see  ?"  he  asked. 

"Bogoduhovsky." 

"She  is  in  the  tower,  I  believe;  you'll  have  to  wait 
awhile,"  he  said  to  Nekhludof. 


RESURRECTION  219 

"Then  may  I  not  employ  that  time  in  seeing  the 
Menshdfs,  mother  and  son,  who  are  accused  of 
arson  ?" 

"That's  cell  twenty-one,  I  think.  Yes,  they  may  be 
called." 

"  But  couldn't  I  see  Menshdf  in  his  cell  ?" 

"You  will  be  more  comfortable  in  the  in tervie wing- 
room." 

"  Yes,  but  it  would  interest  me  more  to  see  him  in  his 
cell." 

" Really?  I  don't  see  what  interest  you  can  feel  in 
that." 

Meanwhile  the  Assistant  Inspector,  a  rather  elaborately 
dressed  young  man,  came  in  from  a  side  door. 

"Please  escort  this  gentleman  to  Menshdf's  cell,  No.  21," 
said  the  Inspector,  addressing  the  assistant.  "  Then  take 
him  to  the  office  and  I'll  summon  the  woman.  What 
did  you  call  her?" 

"  Vera  Bogodiihovsky,"  replied  Nekhludof. 

The  assistant  of  the  Inspector  was  a  blond  young  man 
with  a  waxed  mustache  and  an  omnipresent  odor  of  fra 
grant  toilet  water. 

"This  way,  sir.  Our  institution  interests  you?"  he 
asked  with  a  pleasant  smile. 

"  I  take  an  interest  in  this  man,  who  I  am  told  is  here 
for  no  fault  of  his." 

The  assistant  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"That  does  happen  sometimes,"  he  said  in  a  quiet 
tone,  courteously  allowing  the  visitor  to  pass  before  him  as 
they  entered  a  wide,  foul-smelling  corridor.  "Still,  you 
can't  believe  all  they  say.  This  way,"  he  added. 

The  doors  of  the  cells  were  open  and  several  prisoners 
stood  in  the  corridor. 

With  a  slight  nod  to  the  wardens  and  a  rapid  side  glance 
at  the  prisoners,  some  of  whom  hugged  the  walls  as  they 
passed,  while  others  with  hands  pressed  to  their  sides, 
soldier-fashion,  stood  gazing  after  them,  the  assistant 


220  RESURRECTION 

guided  NekhMdof  through  the  corridor  into  another  on 
the  left,  which  was  barred  by  an  iron-bound  door. 

This  corridor  was  still  darker  and  more  foul  than  the 
first.  On  both  sides  were  padlocked  doors,  each  one 
provided  with  a  hole  about  half  an  inch  in  diameter, 
called  an  "eye."  No  one  was  in  this  corridor  but  a 
melancholy,  wrinkled  old  warden. 

" Which  is  Menshdfs  cell?" 

"The  eighth  one  on  the  left." 

"Are  all  these  cells  occupied?"  inquired  Nekhliidof. 
"All  but  one." 

LII. 

"MAY  I  take  a  look?"  he  asked. 

"  Certainly,  if  you  wish;"  the  Assistant  Inspector  smiled 
pleasantly,  and  turned  to  ask  the  warden  a  question. 

Nekhliidof  peeped  through  one  of  the  holes,  and  saw  a 
tall  young  man  with  a  stubby  black  beard  walking  rapidly 
back  and  forth;  hearing  the  noise  at  his  door,  he  looked 
up,  frowned,  and  then  went  on  with  his  walk. 

Nekhludof  looked  through  the  next  hole.  Here  his  eye 
encountered  another — an  eye  so  big  with  terror  that  he 
instinctively  withdrew  his  own.  Through  the  third  open 
ing  he  saw  a  small  man  curled  up  on  the  bed,  with  the 
prison  cloak  drawn  up  over  his  head.  Through  the 
fourth  he  saw  a  pale  man  with  broad  cheeks,  who  sat  with 
head  bowed  down,  leaning  his  elbows  on  his  knees.  At 
the  sound  of  footsteps  he  lifted  his  head  and  looked  up. 
The  expression  of  his  face,  with  its  large  eyes,  revealed 
hopeless  sadness.  He  didn't  seem  to  care  whether  any 
one  looked  at  him  or  not.  No  living  being  could  bring 
him  any  hope.  It  was  terrible  to  Nekhludof,  who  looked 
no  more  till  he  reached  cell  number  twenty-one,  occupied 
by  Menshdf. 

The  warden  unlocked  the  door  and  opened  it.  A 
muscular  fellow  with  a  long  neck,  a  small  beard,  and  a 


RESURRECTION  221 

kindly  look  in  his  round  eyes  stood  beside  the  bed,  hur 
riedly  putting  on  his  prison  wrap.  He  cast  a  shy  glance  at 
the  visitors.  Nekhludof  was  particularly  struck  by  the 
frightened  look  of  the  kindly  round  eyes  that  gazed  in 
quiringly  first  at  him  and  then  at  the  warden  and  the 
Assistant  Inspector. 

"Here  is  a  gentleman  who  wishes  to  tell  him  about 
your  case." 

"Thank  you,  sir." 

"Yes,  I  have  heard  of  your  case,"  said  Nekhliidof, 
going  to  the  back  part  of  the  cell  and  stopping  before  the 
dirty,  grated  window,  "but  I  should  like  you  to  tell  me 
about  it  yourself." 

Menshdf  went  up  to  the  window  and  immediately  began 
his  story,  timidly  at  first  and  glancing  constantly  at  the 
Inspector,  but  gathering  courage  as  he  proceeded;  and 
when  the  Inspector  stepped  out  into  the  corridor  to  give 
some  orders,  he  regained  his  confidence.  Judging  by  his 
language  and  manners,  his  was  the  story  of  a  good,  simple 
minded  peasant  lad,  and  it  seemed  strange  to  Nekhludof 
to  hear  such  a  tale  from  the  lips  of  a  prisoner  in  a  shame 
ful  place  and  dress.  While  he  listened  he  used  his  eyes : 
examined  the  low  cot  with  its  straw  mattress,  the  solid 
iron  grating  of  the  window,  the  plastered  walls,  damp  and 
dirty,  and  the  pitiful  figure  made  by  this  unfortunate 
peasant,  who  looked  so  incongruous  with  his  prison  wrap 
and  slippers;  it  made  him  feel  sadder  than  ever,  for  it  was 
hard  to  believe  that  this  apparently  well-meaning  man 
was  not  telling  the  truth,  and  dreadful  to  think  that  men 
could  seize  such  a  lad,  dress  him  like  a  convict,  and  shut 
him  up  in  this  horrible  place  without  any  cause,  except 
that  he  had  already  suffered  wrong.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  was  even  more  distressing  to  suspect  that  this  apparently 
truthful  story  might  be  a  fraud  and  this  honest  face  a 
deceitful  mask.  This  was  his  story :  Not  long  after  his 
marriage,  a  licensed  liquor-seller  had  alienated  his  wife's 
affection  from  him  and  enticed  her  away.  At  first  the 


222  RESURRECTION 

injured  husband  sought  the  protection  of  the  law,  but 
the  liquor  seller  bribed  the  officials  and  was  always 
acquitted.  Once  he  brought  his  wife  home  by  force,  but 
the  next  day  she  ran  away  again.  Then  he  went  to  the 
liquor-seller's  house  and  demanded  his  wife.  He  was  told 
to  clear  out,  that  his  wife  was  not  there.  But  he  was 
sure  that  he  had  seen  her  when  he  came  in,  and  he  refused 
to  leave ;  whereupon  the  liquor-seller  and  his  man  fell  upon 
him  and  gave  him  a  beating.  The  next  day  the  liquor- 
seller's  house  was  burnt  down.  He  and  his  mother  were 
accused  of  the  crime,  though  he  could  prove  an  alibi,  for 
at  the  time  when  the  house  caught  fire  he  was  at  the  house 
of  a  friend. 

"  So  you  really  did  not  set  it  on  fire  ?" 

"  I  never  thought  of  such  a  thing,  sir.  My  enemy  did 
it  himself.  I'm  sure  he  did,  for  I  heard  them  saying  how 
he  had  just  got  it  insured.  And  mother  and  I  were  accused 
of  going  there  and  threatening  him.  I  did  give  it  to 
him  one  day,  that's  a  fact.  I  couldn't  help  it.  But  I 
never  set  his  house  on  fire,  and  I  wasn't  there  when  the 
fire  started.  He  planned  it  for  that  particular  day  be 
cause  my  mother  and  I  had  been  seen  there.  He  set  the 
fire  himself  to  get  the  insurance  and  then  said  that  we  did 
it." 

"Is  that  true ?" 

"It's  God's  truth,  sir.  Be  a  father  to  us,"  he  cried. 
Nekhludof  could  hardly  prevent  him  from  falling  at  his 
feet.  "  Help  me,  I  shall  be  ruined,  and  I'm  not  one  bit  to 
blame,"  he  went  on.  Suddenly  the  muscles  of  his  face 
began  to  twitch  and  he  burst  out  sobbing.  He  turned  up 
the  sleeve  of  his  prison  wrap  and  wiped  his  eyes  on  his 
soiled  shirt-sleeve. 

"Have  you  finished?"  asked  the  assistant. 

"Yes." 

"Now  keep  up  your  courage;  we  will  do  all  we  can," 
said  Nekhliidof  as  he  left  the  cell.  Menshdf  stood  in  the 
doorway,  so  that  the  Inspector 's  Assistant  struck  him  with 


RESURRECTION  223 

the  door  when  he  closed  it.     While  the  warden  was  lock 
ing  the  door,  Menshof  looked  at  him  through  the  loophole. 

Lin. 

As  he  retraced  his  steps  along  the  broad  corridor,  it  was 
dinner-time  and  the  cells  were  open.  Walking  between 
rows  of  men  clad  in  long,  bright  yellow  wraps,  short,  wide 
trousers,  and  prison  shoes,  who  gazed  at  him  with  intense 
curiosity,  Nekhludof  was  swayed  by  the  conflicting  emo 
tions  of  compassion  for  those  who  were  imprisoned,  of 
horror  and  bewilderment  towards  those  who  had  thrown 
them  into  prison  and  kept  them  there,  and  of  self- 
humiliation  for  daring  to  investigate  all  this  so  calmly. 
A  man  hurried  along  the  corridor,  his  shoes  clattering  as 
he  ran,  and  rushed  into  one  of  the  cells,  from  which 
several  men  presently  emerged  and  stood  in  front  of  him, 
barring  his  way,  and  said,  bowing  as  they  spoke: 

"  Your  Honor,  we  don't  know  what  to  call  you,  but  we 
beg  you  to  set  us  free." 

"But  I  am  not  a  person  in  authority;  I  know  nothing 
of  your  case." 

"Then  tell  the  authorities,"  cried  an  indignant  voice. 
"We  haven't  done  anything,  and  here  we  have  been  kept 
suffering  for  two  whole  months." 

"How  is  that?  What  do  you  mean?"  asked  Nekhlii- 
dof. 

"This  is  the  second  month,  and  none  of  us  know  what 
we  are  here  for." 

"  Yes,  they  are  telling  the  truth.  You  see  it  was  a  kind 
of  accident,"  said  the  Assistant  Inspector.  "They  were 
sent  here  because  they  had  no  passports ;  they  should  have 
been  sent  to  their  own  government,  but  the  jail  there 
burnt  down,  and  the  authorities  requested  us  to  keep 
them.  We  have  released  all  those  from  the  other  govern 
ments,  but  these  men  are  still  confined." 

"Is  that  the  only  reason  for  their  detention?"  asked 


224  RESURRECTION 

NekhMdof ,  pausing  at  the  door.  Some  forty  men  dressed 
in  prisoners'  clothes  surrounded  Nekhliidof  and  the 
assistant.  Several  began  to  speak  at  once.  The  assistant 
checked  them,  saying: 

"Let  one  of  you  be  the  spokesman.", 

A  tall,  good-looking  peasant  some  fifty  years  of  age 
stepped  forward. 

He  explained  to  Nekhludof  that  they  had  been  sent  to 
jail  because  they  had  no  passports.  They  had  had  their 
passports  all  right,  but  that  the  time  for  which  they  were 
issued  had  expired  about  two  weeks  before  the  time  of 
their  arrest.  This  happened  to  some  of  the  men  every 
year,  and  no  one  troubled  them,  but  this  time  they  had  been 
arrested  and  imprisoned,  just  as  if  they  were  criminals. 

"We  are  all  stone  masons  and  belong  to  the  same  artel. 
We  have  heard  the  report  that  the  jail  in  our  government 
was  burned  down.  But  that  is  not  our  fault.  Please  say 
a  good  word  for  us." 

Nekhludof  was  listening  but  did  not  quite  grasp  what 
the  pleasant-looking  old  man  was  explaining  to  him;  his 
attention  was  distracted  by  the  movements  of  a  large, 
dark-gray  louse  which  was  crawling  on  a  lock  of  hair  that 
fell  over  the  man's  cheek. 

"  Is  this  true  ?  Can  it  be  possible  that  there  is  no  other 
reason?"  asked  Nekhliidof,  turning  to  the  Inspector's 
assistant. 

"Yes,  it  is  true,  they  ought  to  have  been  sent  home; 
there  is  no  doubt  about  that,"  the  assistant  declared. 

Just  then  a  little  man,  also  wearing  the  prison  garb, 
working  his  jaws  in  a  nervous  sort  of  way,  began  to 
describe  how  they  were  made  to  suffer  here,  when  they 
had  done  no  harm  to  anybody. 

"They  treat  us  worse  than  dogs,"  he  said. 

"There,  there,  talk  less  and  keep  quiet,  or  you 
know " 

"What  do  I  know!"  cried  the  little  man,  desperately. 
"We  have  done  nothing  wrong." 


RESURRECTION  225 

" Silence!"  shouted  the  superior,  and  the  little  man 
subsided. 

"What  does  all  this  mean?"  Nekhliidof  had  said  to 
himself  when  he  left  the  cell,  conscious  that  hundreds  of 
eyes  were  following  him  from  the  holes  in  the  doors,  not 
to  mention  those  of  the  prisoners  they  met  on  the  way. 

"Is  it  really  true  that  innocent  men  are  kept  here?" 
asked  Nekhludof,  when  they  left  the  corridor. 

"What  can  we  do  about  it?  Of  course  they  don't  all 
speak  the  truth.  According  to  his  own  story  every  man 
among  them  is  innocent,"  said  the  Assistant  Inspector. 

"But  surely  those  men  are  innocent?" 

"Yes,  that  is  true.  But  they  are  an  unruly  set:  we 
have  to  be  very  strict  with  them.  There  are  some  dan 
gerous  types  here ;  one  has  to  be  on  his  guard  against  them 
all  the  time.  We  had  to  punish  two  of  them  yesterday." 

"Punish,  how?" 

"Flog  them,  by  order " 

"But  corporal  punishment  is  abolished!" 

"  Not  for  those  who  have  been  deprived  of  civil  rights. 
They  are  not  exempt." 

And  now  Nekhludof  remembered  what  he  had  seen 
yesterday  while  he  was  waiting  in  the  entry  and  realized 
that  the  punishment  must  have  been  going  on  during  that 
time;  such  a  turmoil  of  amazement,  sadness,  and  bewil 
derment  arose  within  him,  that  his  moral  nausea  was  on 
the  verge  of  becoming  an  actual  physical  sensation — he 
had  felt  something  of  this  nature  before — but  nothing 
comparable  to  his  present  suffering.  No  longer  listening 
to  the  words  of  the  Inspector's  assistant,  he  walked  as 
rapidly  as  he  could,  looking  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the 
left  until  he  reached  the  office.  The  Inspector,  still  in  the 
corridor  attending  to  some  other  business,  had  quite  for 
gotten  to  summon  Bogoduhovsky.  Seeing  Nekhludof 
recalled  it  to  his  mind. 

"I  will  send  for  her  at  once;  and  you'd  better  take  a 
seat,"  he  said. 

VOL.   I. — 15 


226  RESURRECTION 


LIV. 


THE  office  consisted  of  two  rooms;  the  first  one  was 
lighted  by  two  dirty  windows  and  contained  a  large  stove 
which,  with  its  plastering  peeling  off,  projected  quite  a 
way  into  the  room.  A  black  stick  for  measuring  the 
prisoners  stood  in  one  corner,  while  in  the  other  hung  the 
usual  symbol  of  martyrdom,  —  a  large  image  of  Christ. 

Several  wardens  were  standing  in  the  first  room.  In 
the  next  room  seated  alongside  the  walls  were  about 
twenty  men  and  women,  in  pairs  and  groups,  talking  in 
low  tones.  There  was  a  writing-desk  near  the  window. 

The  Inspector  took  a  seat  by  the  table  and  offered 
Nekhliidof  a  chair  beside  him.  Nekhliidof  seated  him 
self  and  became  absorbed  in  watching  the  people  in  the 
room. 

The  first  person  who  attracted  his  attention  was  a 
pleasant-faced  young  man  who  wore  a  short  coat.  He 
was  standing  in  front  of  an  elderly  woman  who  had  very 
dark  eyebrows,  talking  to  her  in  a  high-pitched  voice,  with 
many  gesticulations. 

Beside  them  sat  an  old  man  with  blue  spectacles,  hold 
ing  the  hand  of  a  young  woman  dressed  in  a  prisoner's 
suit,  and  listening  eagerly  to  something  she  was  telling. 
A  schoolboy  of  the  Rial  Gymnasia  gazed  steadily  at  the 
old  man,  with  an  expression  of  terror  in  his  eyes.  In  a 
corner  not  far  from  this  group  sat  a  pair  of  lovers.  The 
girl  was  very  young  and  pretty;  she  had  short,  fair  hair, 
an  animated  expression,  and  was  fashionably  dressed. 
The  young  man's  features  were  handsome  and  deli 
cately  cut;  he  had  curling  hair  and  wore  a  rubber  jacket. 
They  were  carrying  on  a  whispered  conversation  in  their 
corner  and  were  evidently  very  much  in  love.  Next  to 
Nekhliidof  sat  a  gray-haired  woman  dressed  in  black, 
unmistakably  a  mother,  for  she  never  once  turned  her 
eyes  from  a  consumptive-looking  young  man  who  also 


RESURRECTION  227 

wore  a  rubber  jacket;  she  kept  trying  to  speak,  but  the 
tears  choked  her;  over  and  over  again  she  opened  her  lips, 
said  a  word  or  two,  and  then  stopped.  The  young  man 
held  a  paper  in  his  hand  and  seemed  at  a  loss  to  decide 
what  he  ought  to  do.  He  looked  angry  as  he  sat  there 
crumpling  this  paper.  Next  to  them  sat  a  handsome, 
rosy-cheeked,  vigorous-looking  girl  with  prominent  eyes; 
she  wore  a  gray  dress  and  cape,  and  sat  beside  the  weeping 
mother,  patting  her  tenderly  on  the  shoulder.  Every 
thing  about  this  girl  was  beautiful:  her  large  white  hands, 
her  short  wavy  hair,  her  clear-cut  nose  and  lips;  but  her 
supreme  charm  lay  in  her  remarkable  eyes,  kind,  truthful, 
brown,  like  the  eyes  of  a  lamb.  When  Nekhludof  entered, 
those  fine  eyes  turned  from  the  face  of  the  mother  for  an 
instant  and  met  his  own.  But  she  withdrew  her  gaze  at 
once  and  began  to  talk  to  the  mother.  Not  far  from  the 
lovers  sat  a  ragged  man  with  a  dark,  gloomy  face,  talking 
angrily  to  a  beardless  visitor,  who  looked  like  a  Skopetz. 

Nekhludof  sat  beside  the  Inspector  and  looked  around 
with  intense  curiosity.  His  attention  was  diverted  by  a 
little  boy  with  closely  cut  hair,  who  came  up  to  him  and 
cried  out  in  a  shrill  voice: 

"And  whom  do  you  wish  to  see?" 

Nekhludof  was  surprised  at  the  question,  but  when  he 
glanced  at  the  boy  and  saw  his  serious,  intelligent  expres 
sion  and  bright,  earnest  eyes,  he  replied  with  a  sober  face 
that  he  was  waiting  to  see  a  woman  whom  he  knew. 

"Is  she  your  sister?"  asked  the  boy. 

"No,"  replied  Nekhludof  with  surprise.  "And  with 
whom  are  you  ?"  he  asked  the  boy. 

"I  am  with  mamma.  She  is  a  'political,'"  said  the 
boy. 

"Marya  Pavlovna,  look  after  Kdlya,"  said  the  In 
spector,  who  seemed  to  regard  Nekhludof  s  conversation 
with  the  boy  as  an  infringement  of  the  rules. 

Marya  Pavlovna  was  the  handsome  girl  with  the  lamb 
like  eyes,  the  one  who  had  noticed  Nekhludof  when  he 


228  RESURRECTION 

came  in.  She  rose  to  her  full  height  and  with  her  firm 
and  almost  masculine  step  approached  Nekhludof  and 
the  boy. 

"I  suppose  he  has  asked  you  who  you  are?"  she 
observed  with  a  slight  smile,  gazing  confidently  into  his 
eyes,  with  the  simplicity  of  one  to  whom  it  is  a  matter  of 
course  to  be  on  the  friendliest  terms  with  all  the  world. 

"He  wants  to  know  everything,"  she  said,  smiling  at 
the  boy  with  such  a  kind,  charming  smile,  that  both  the 
child  and  Nekhludof  answered  her  with  a  smile. 

"Yes,  he  asked  me  whom  I  wanted  to  see." 

"Mdrya  Pavlovna,  you  know  it  is  against  the  rules  to 
talk  to  strangers,"  said  the  Inspector. 

"Very  well,  very  well,"  she  said,  and  taking  Kdlya's 
hand  in  her  own  large,  white  one,  she  returned  with  the 
little  fellow  to  the  mother  of  the  consumptive  young  man. 
The  child  never  took  his  eyes  from  her  face. 

"  Whose  boy  is  he  ?"  asked  Nekhludof  of  the  Inspector. 

"He  is  the  son  of  a  political  prisoner;  he  was  born  in 
prison,"  said  the  Inspector,  with  a  certain  pride  in  dis 
playing  the  curiosities  of  his  establishment. 

"Really?" 

"Yes,  and  now  he  is  going  to  Siberia  with  his  mother." 

"And  that  young  lady?" 

"I  can't  tell  you  about  that,"  said  the  Inspector, 
shrugging  his  shoulders.  "Ah,  here  comes  Bogoduhovsky." 

LV. 

THIN,  sallow,  short-haired,  Vera  Efremovna,  with  her 
large,  kind  eyes  and  spasmodic  gait,  came  in  from  the 
door  in  the  rear.  "Thank  you  so  much  for  coming,"  she 
said,  shaking  hands  with  Nekhludof.  "So  glad  you 
remember  me.  Let  us  be  seated." 

"I  didn't  expect  to  find  you  here." 

"Oh,  I  am  perfectly  comfortable;  quite  so;  I  couldn't 
ask  for  anything  better,"  said  Ve'ra  Efre'movna.  He 


RESURRECTION  229 

recognized  the  startled  glance  of  her  kind,  large,  round 
eyes,  and  the  peculiar  writhing  movement  of  her  thin  and 
muscular  neck  that  rose  above  the  miserable,  soiled  and 
crumpled  collar  of  her  sack. 

Nekhliidof  asked  how  she  had  managed  to  get  into 
prison.  She  described  her  case  with  great  animation, 
interspersing  her  story  with  various  foreign  words, — • 
propaganda,  disorganization,  groups  and  sections  and 
sub-sections, — which  she  seemed  to  take  for  granted 
would  be  familiar  to  Nekhliidof;  he  had  never  heard  of 
one  of  them. 

She  poured  forth  all  this,  fully  persuaded  that  he  was 
interested  and  delighted  to  hear  about  all  the  mysteries  of 
the  Narodovdlstvo,1  while  Nekhliidof  was  looking  at  her 
poor  little  neck,  her  thin,  frowsy  hair,  and  wondering  why 
she  did  and  said  such  astonishing  things.  He  was  sorry 
for  her,  but  his  sympathy  was  different  from  that  which 
he  felt  for  the  peasant  Mensh6f,  an  innocent  man  shut  up 
in  this  foul  prison.  He  pitied  her  for  the  manifest  con 
fusion  of  her  ideas.  She  seemed  to  consider  herself  a 
heroine,  ready  to  sacrifice  her  life  for  the  success  of  her 
cause;  and  yet  she  was  hardly  able  to  explain  what  that 
cause  was,  or  what  would  constitute  its  success.  The  case 
which  she  described  to  Nekhliidof  was  as  follows:  Her 
friend  Shiistova,  who  did  not  even  belong  to  their  sub 
group,  as  she  called  it,  had  been  arrested  five  months  ago 
and  imprisoned  in  the  Petropavlovsk  Fortress  merely 
because  some  books  and  papers  that  had  been  entrusted 
to  her  keeping,  happened  to  be  found  in  her  house.  Ve*ra 
Efremovna  felt  herself  somewhat  responsible  for  Shiis 
tova  's  arrest,  and  implored  Nekhliidof,  who  had  influence, 
to  do  all  he  could  to  secure  her  release.  And  one  more 
favor  she  had  to  ask,  which  was  to  obtain  for  Gurevitch, 
also  confined  in  the  Petropavlovsk  Fortress,  permission  to 
see  his  parents  and  to  be  allowed  certain  scientific  books, 
which  he  needed  for  research. 

l"  Freedom  of  the  people."  — TR. 


23o  RESURRECTION 

Nekhludof  promised  to  do  everything  in  his  power 
when  he  reached  Petersburg. 

Her  own  story  was  this:  After  she  had  finished  her 
nurse's  course,  she  met  several  persons  who  were  members 
of  the  "  Nar6dov61stvo "  party  and  became  interested  in 
their  work.  At  first  all  went  well,  proclamations  were 
written,  the  propaganda  was  carried  on  in  the  factories, 
but  the  time  came  when  one  very  prominent  member  of 
the  society  was  arrested.  Papers  were  found  that  incrim 
inated  others,  and  many  arrests  followed. 

"  My  own  was  among  them,  and  now  I  am  to  be  exiled 
.  .  . "  she  said,  as  she  finished  her  tale.  "  But  I  don't 
care.  I  am  perfectly  well,  as  well  as  an  Olympian  god 
dess,"  she  concluded,  with  her  pitiful  smile. 

Nekhludof  asked  her  about  the  girl  with  the  lamb-like 
eyes.  Vera  Efre'movna  told  him  that  she  was  the  daugh 
ter  of  a  general  and  had  long  been  a  member  of  the  revo 
lutionary  party.  She  was  arrested  because  she  had 
declared  herself  to  be  the  person  who  fired  at  a  gendarme. 
She  lived  in  an  apartment  occupied  by  conspirators  where 
a  printing-press  was  kept.  One  night,  while  soldiers 
were  searching  the  premises,  the  occupants  decided  to 
defend  themselves;  they  put  out  the  lights  and  began  to 
destroy  the  incriminating  articles.  But  the  police  broke 
in  upon  them,  and  then  one  of  the  conspirators  fired  a 
shot,  mortally  wounding  a  gendarme.  When  questioned 
as  to  who  had  fired  the  shot,  Marya  PaVlovna  said  that  it 
was  she,  although  she  had  never  touched  a  pistol  in  her 
life,  and  would  not  kill  a  spider.  Nevertheless  her  story 
was  accepted  and  now  she  was  sentenced  to  penal  servi 
tude.  "An  altruistic  and  very  noble  character,"  said 
Ve*ra  Efre'movna,  approvingly. 

The  third  matter  that  she  wanted  to  discuss  with  him 
concerned  Maslova.  She  knew  her  story — nothing  is 
ever  hidden  in  prison-life — knew  all  about  her  relations 
to  Nekhludof  and  advised  him  to  set  about  getting  her 
removed  into  the  "political"  ward,  or  else  to  have  her  sent 


RESURRECTION  231 

to  help  in  the  hospital,  where  there  were  a  great  many 
patients  and  just  now  attendants  were  needed. 

Nekhliidof  thanked  her  for  her  advice  and  said  that  he 
would  try  to  follow  it. 

LVI. 

THEIR  conversation  was  interrupted  by  the  Inspector, 
wuo  rose  and  announced  that  the  visiting-hour  was  over 
and  the  prisoners'  friends  must  go.  NekhMdof  said 
good-by  to  V£ra  Efre'movna  and  walked  to  the  door, 
where  he  stopped  to  observe  what  was  going  on  before 
him. 

"Time's  up,  time's  up!"  said  the  Inspector,  rising  and 
again  resuming  his  seat.  This  announcement  seemed  to 
be  the  signal  for  increased  animation;  nobody  appeared 
to  consider  it  imperative.  A  few  had  risen  to  their  feet 
and  stood  talking;  but  most  of  them  kept  their  seats  and 
went  on  with  their  conversations.  Some  bade  each  other 
good-by  with  tears.  The  sight  of  the  mother  and  her 
consumptive  son  was  particularly  touching.  The  young 
man  was  still  twirling  the  paper  and  the  expression  of  his 
face  looked  fiercer  than  ever,  so  that  it  needed  all  his  self- 
control  to  refrain  from  following  his  mother's  example, 
who,  when  she  heard  that  it  was  time  to  go,  laid  her  head 
on  his  shoulder  and  cried  like  a  child.  The  girl  with  the 
lamb's  eyes,  whom  Nekhludof  couldn't  help  watching, 
stood  in  front  of  the  sobbing  mother,  trying  to  comfort 
her.  The  old  man  with  the  blue  spectacles  held  his 
daughter's  hand  and  nodded  in  answer  to  what  she  was 
telling  him.  The  young  lovers  were  also  standing,  clasp 
ing  hands  and  gazing  silently  into  each  other's  eyes. 

"  Those  two  are  the  only  happy  ones  here,"  said  the 
young  man  in  the  short  coat,  pointing  at  the  lovers.  He 
stood  beside  Nekhludof,  just  watching  the  others. 

Conscious  that  Nekhludof  and  the  young  man  in  the 
short  coat  were  gazing  at  them,  the  lovers  stretched  out 


232  RESURRECTION 

their  hands  and  laughing  merrily  began  to  waltz  around 
the  room.  "They  are  going  to  be  married  here  this 
evening,  and  she  follows  him  to  Siberia,"  remarked  the 
young  man. 

"What  has  he  done?" 

"  He  has  been  sentenced  to  penal  servitude.  Well,  it's 
good  that  they  have  the  heart  to  be  gay.  It's  too  distress 
ing  to  hear  that"  he  added,  alluding  to  the  sobs  of  the 
consumptive's  mother. 

"Pray,  pray,  ladies  and  gentlemen!  Do  not  force  me 
to  use  harsh  measures,"  said  the  Inspector,  repeating  the 
same  words  over  and  over.  "Pray  go,  I  beg  of  you!"  he 
said  in  a  weak  and  hesitating  voice.  "It's  later  than 
usual;  this  cannot  go  on!  I  am  warning  you  for  the  last 
time!"  he  repeated  in  a  doleful  voice,  now  lighting,  now 
extinguishing  his  Maryland  cigarette.  Though  the  argu 
ments  by  which  men  justified  their  cruel  treatment  of 
their  fellow-creatures  were  familiar  from  long  use,  and 
though  the  Inspector  knew  that  he  was  not  actually 
responsible,  yet  he  could  not  help  feeling  that  he  was  one 
of  the  contributors  to  the  sum  of  grief  which  filled  this 
room,  and  no  one  could  fail  to  see  how  it  distressed  him. 

At  length  the  prisoners  and  the  visitors  started  to  go; 
the  former  through  the  inner,  the  latter  through  the  outer 
door.  All  the  prisoners — the  men  in  rubber  jackets,  the 
consumptive,  and  the  dark  man  in  rags  and  tatters,  Mdrya 
P£vlovna  leading  the  boy  born  in  prison — every  one  of 
them  left  the  room,  and  the  visitors  went  too.  The  man 
with  the  blue  spectacles,  stepping  heavily,  also  passed  out 
just  in  front  of  Nekhludof. 

"Yes,  impossible  regulations,"  said  the  talkative  young 
man,  as  he  descended  the  stairs  with  Nekhludof.  "For 
tunately  the  Captain  is  a  kind-hearted  man  and  does  not 
keep  strictly  to  rules.  A  chat  does  these  people  good." 

While  Nekhludof  was  standing  on  the  porch,  talking 
with  Medynzof  —  as  the  young  man  called  himself  —  the 
Inspector  came  wearily  up  to  him. 


RESURRECTION  233 

' 

"If  you  wish  to  see  Maslova,  please  come  to-morrow," 
he  said,  evidently  trying  to  be  polite  to  Nekhludof. 

"Very  well,"  replied  Nekhludof,  as  he  hurried  away. 

It  was  dreadful  to  think  of  the  suffering  of  that  innocent 
Menshdf ,  not  so  much  his  physical  suffering,  as  the  bewil 
derment  of  mind,  the  distrust  of  God,  of  human  good 
ness,  that  he  must  have  felt  when  cruel  men  tormented 
him  without  cause;  and  it  was  horrible  to  consider  the 
suffering  and  disgrace  inflicted  on  those  other  innocent 
men,  simply  for  some  omission  in  the  paper.  Those 
idiotic  jailers,  whose  business  it  was  to  torment  their 
fellow-men,  you  couldn't  persuade  them  that  they  were 
not  doing  a  good  work.  But  really  the  most  shocking 
part  of  all  was  this  elderly,  feeble,  and  kind-hearted 
Inspector  whose  duty  compelled  him  to  separate  mother 
and  son,  father  and  daughter,  who  were  human  beings 
just  like  himself  and  his  children. 

"And  why  should  these  things  be?"  Nekhludof  asked 
himself.  The  moral  nausea,  a  feeling  which  always 
attacked  him  in  the  prison,  and  was  closely  akin  to  the 
physical  sensation,  flooded  his  soul,  but  there  was  no 
answer  to  his  question. 

LVII. 

THE  next  day  Nekhludof  went  to  his  lawyer  and 
engaged  him  to  conduct  the  Menshdf  case,  also.  The 
advocate,  after  hearing  the  circumstances,  said  that  he 
would  look  into  it,  and  that  if  the  matter  was  really  as  it 
was  represented,  which  was  probably  the  case,  he  would 
undertake  their  defense  free  of  charge.  Meanwhile 
Nekhludof  had  also  told  him  of  the  one  hundred  and 
thirty  men  who  had  been  imprisoned  through  a  misunder 
standing,  and  asked  him  upon  whom  their  freedom 
depended  and  who  was  responsible. 

The  lawyer  meditated  in  silence  for  some  moments;  he 
didn't  mean  to  give  a  rash  answer. 


234  RESURRECTION 

"  Who  is  to  blame  ?  No  one,"  he  replied  firmly.  "  If 
you  ask  the  Public  Prosecutor,  he  will  tell  you  it  is  the 
Governor's  fault,  and  the  Governor  will  say  that  it  is  the 
fault  of  the  Prosecutor.  Oh,  no,  nobody  is  to  blame." 

"  I  am  going  from  here  to  Maslennikof,  and  I  shall 
tell  him  about  it." 

"  That'll  do  no  good,"  said  the  lawyer,  smiling.  "  He  is 
such  a — he  is  not  of  your  kin,  I  believe? — he  is  such  a 
consummate  blockhead,  and  yet  he  is  a  foxy  fellow,  too!" 

Nekhludof  had  not  forgotten  what  Maslennikof  said 
about  the  lawyer,  and  taking  his  leave  he  went  straight  to 
the  house  of  the  former.  He  had  two  requests  to  make : 
he  wanted  an  order  for  M&slova's  transfer  to  the  hospital, 
and  to  get  relief  for  the  one  hundred  and  thirty  innocent 
men  who  were  kept  in  jail  for  want  of  their  passports. 
He  hated  to  ask  a  favor  of  a  man  for  whom  he  felt  no 
respect,  but  it  seemed  the  only  way  open  to  him,  and  he 
must  make  up  his  mind  to  go  through  it. 

As  he  drew  near  the  house  he  saw  many  carriages  not 
far  from  the  entrance, — drdshkies,  open  barouches,  and 
coupe's,  and  remembered  that  this  was  Mme.  Maslennikof 's 
reception  day,  which  he  had  been  urged  not  to  forget. 

As  he  drove  up,  a  carriage  blocked  the  way;  a  footman 
with  a  tall  hat,  cockade,  and  a  fur  cape  was  assisting  his 
mistress  to  enter  her  carriage.  As  she  lifted  the  train  of 
her  gown,  she  exposed  her  slippered  feet  and  the  thin 
ankles  cased  in  black  stockings. 

One  of  the  carriages  belonged  to  the  Korch&gins.  The 
gray-haired,  rosy-faced  coachman  saluted  him  respect 
fully  and  pleasantly,  like  an  old  acquaintance. 

He  was  just  going  to  ask  the  door-keeper  where 
Michael  Ivanovitch  Maslennikof  was,  when  the  individ 
ual  himself  appeared  descending  the  carpeted  stairway. 
He  was  escorting  a  very  important  guest,  not  to  the  first 
landing  only,  but  to  the  very  foot  of  the  stairs. 

On  his  way  down  the  important  visitor  was  talking  in 
French  about  a  Fair  that  was  to  be  held  for  the  benefit 


RESURRECTION  235 

of  eleemosynary  institutions,  and  expressed  his  opinion 
that  it  was  a  very  suitable  occupation  for  the  ladies.  "  It 
amuses  them  and  provides  us  with  money!  Qu'elles 
s'amusent  et  que  le  bon  Dieu  les  benisse.  Ah,  Nekhliidof, 
how  are  you  ?  Where  do  you  keep  yourself  nowadays  ?" 
he  asked,  saluting  Nekhliidof.  "  Allez  presenter  uos 
devoirs  &  Madame.  The  Korchagins  are  there  too,  et 
Nadine  Bukshevden:  toutes  les  jolies  femmes  de  la  mile" 
he  concluded,  offering  his  shoulders,  with  a  slight  upward 
movement,  to  his  own  magnificent  footman,  in  a  gold- 
braided  livery,  who  stood  holding  his  master's  military 
cloak. 

"  Au  revoir,  mon  cher."  He  shook  hands  with  Maslen- 
nikof. 

"Now  let  us  go  upstairs.  So  glad  you  came,"  said 
Maslennikof,  excitedly  taking  Nekhliidof  under  the  arm, 
and  heavy  man  though  he  was,  quickly  running  with  him 
up  the  stairs. 

The  attention  bestowed  upon  Mdslennikof  by  the 
important  personage  above  described  was  responsible 
for  this  exultant  frame  of  mind.  Every  attention  of  the 
kind  gave  him  the  same  sort  of  pleasure  that  a  dog  feels, 
when  his  master  strokes  his  back,  or  pats  him  on  the  head, 
or  scratches  him  behind  the  ear.  The  dog  will  wag  its 
tail,  crouch  on  the  ground,  press  its  ears  to  its  head,  and 
caper  wildly  round  the  place.  That  was  what  Maslen 
nikof  would  have  liked  to  do.  He  did  not  notice  the 
serious  expression  on  Nekhludof's  face,  he  never  heard 
one  word  that  he  said,  but  impetuously  drew  him  on 
towards  the  drawing-room.  There  was  really  nothing  for 
Nekhludof  to  do  but  follow  him. 

"  We  will  talk  business  later.  I  will  do  anything  in  the 
world  for  you,"  he  said  to  Nekhliidof  as  they  were  going 
through  the  hall. 

"Announce  the  Prince  to  Madame,"  he  said  to  a  foot 
man,  who  ran  on  ahead  of  them.  "  Vous  n'avez  qu'a 
or  Conner.  But  you  must  pay  your  visit  to  my  wife;  I 


236  RESURRECTION 

was  scolded  the  last  time  you  came,  for  not  bringing 
you  in." 

When  they  entered,  the  footman  had  already  announced 
him,  and  Anna  Igndtievna,  the  vice-governor-ess,  —  the 
general-ess,  as  she  called  herself,  nodded  and  beamed 
upon  him  from  behind  the  bonnets  and  heads  that  sur 
rounded  her  divan. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  room  several  ladies  were  seated 
at  the  tea-table,  while  the  men,  army  officers  and  civilians, 
had  gathered  in  groups  around  them;  the  confused  hum  of 
voices  never  ceased. 

"En fin!  Why  have  you  kept  away  so  long?  What 
have  we  done?"  she  said  to  Nekhludof  as  he  entered; 
implying  both  by  word  and  by  manner  a  degree  of 
intimacy  between  them  which  in  reality  had  never 
existed. 

"  Do  you  know  Mme.  BelyaVsky  ?  Michael  Ivanovitch 
Tcherndf !  Draw  your  chair  nearer;  Missy,  venez  done  a 
noire  table.  On  vous  apportera  votre  the.  .  .  .  And  you 
too  .  .  ."  she  addressed  the  officer  who  was  talking  to 
Missy,  having  apparently  forgotten  his  name. 

"Will  you  have  a  cup  of  tea,  Prince?" 

"  No,  I  shall  never  agree  with  you,  never.  She  did  not 
love  him,  that's  all,"  said  a  woman's  voice. 

"  But  she  did  love  pastry." 

"Oh,  how  silly  you  are!"  exclaimed  another  laughing 
voice.  It  belonged  to  a  lady  who  wore  a  high  hat  and 
brilliant  silk  costume  gleaming  with  gold  and  gems. 

"C'est  excellent,  this  wafer,  and  so  light.  lid  like 
another." 

"  Are  you  going  soon  ?" 

" To-day  is  our  last  day.     That 's  why  we  are  here." 

"Such  a  delightful  spring  and  the  country  is  looking 
so  beautiful  now." 

Missy  was  charming  in  a  dark  striped  gown  that  fitted 
her  like  a  glove.  She  blushed  when  she  saw  Nekhludof. 

"I  thought  you  were  gone,"  she  said  to  him. 


RESURRECTION  237 

"I  should  have  been,"  he  replied,  only  that  business 
detained  me;  I  came  here  to-day  on  business." 

"I  wish  you  would  go  to  see  mamma.  She  would  be 
so  pleased."  Her  color  deepened  as  she  spoke,  for  she 
knew  she  was  telling  a  falsehood  and  a  gratuitous  one 
too,  since  he  couldn  't  fail  to  see  through  it. 

"  I  shall  hardly  have  time,"  replied  Nekhludof,  in  a 
depressed  tone  of  voice,  trying  to  make  believe  that  he  did 
not  notice  that  she  was  blushing. 

Missy  frowned  angrily,  shrugged  her  shoulders,  and 
turned  to  a  brilliant  officer,  who  seized  her  empty  cup  and 
with  a  strenuous  effort  carried  it  across  the  room  to  a 
tea-table,  hitting  his  saber  against  every  chair  on  the  way. 

"You  really  must  give  us  something  for  the  asylum." 

"I  don't  mean  to  refuse.  I  only  wish  to  save  all  I  can 
for  the  allegri.1  I  expect  to  make  a  fine  show  there." 

"Well,  see  that  you  do!"  exclaimed  a  voice,  followed 
by  a  decidedly  artificial  burst  of  laughter.  Anna  Igna- 
tievna  was  beaming;  her  "at  home"  had  proved  a  grand 
success. 

"  Mika  tells  me  that  you  are  interested  in  prison  work," 
she  said  to  Nekhludof.  "I  quite  sympathize  with  you." 
Mika  was  Mme.  Maslennikof 's  fat  husband.  "Mika 
may  have  his  faults,  but  you  know  he  has  the  kindest  heart 
in  the  world!  All  these  unfortunate  prisoners  are  just 
like  his  own  children.  That  is  the  way  he  feels  about 
them.  //  est  d'une  bonte  .  .  . " 

She  paused,  finding  no  words  to  describe  the  particular 
variety  of  "bonte"  which  inspired  the  flogging  of  the 
prisoners,  and  turned  smilingly  to  welcome  a  wrinkled 
old  lady  with  purple  ribbons  who  was  just  coming  in. 

After  exchanging  a  few  commonplace  remarks  to 
satisfy  social  convention,  Nekhlridof  rose  and  went  up  to 
Maslennikof. 

"  Can  you  give  me  a  few  minutes  now?" 

"Yes,  of  course  I  can.     Let  us  go  in  here." 

tottery.  —  Tn. 


238  RESURRECTION 

They  entered   a  small  room  furnished  in  Japanese 
style,  and  sat  down  near  the  window. 


LVIII. 

"AND  now  je  suis  d  vous.  Will  you  smoke?  Wait  a 
moment,  we  must  take  care  not  to  spoil  anything,"  he 
said  and  brought  out  an  ash-tray.  "Now  then!" 

"I  have  two  things  I  wish  to  speak  to  you  about." 

"Have  you,  indeed?" 

Maslennikof 's  face  grew  heavy  and  a  gloomy  expression 
came  over  it.  Every  trace  of  that  canine  excitement  of  his 
had  vanished.  Voices  came  from*  the  drawing-room;  one 
woman's  voice  saying,  "  Jamais,  jamais  je  ne  croirai!"  and 
another  from  the  opposite  direction,  a  man's  voice,  seemed 
to  be  describing  some  incident:  the  names  la  Comtesse 
Vorontzov  and  Victor  Aprdksine  were  repeated  over  and 
over  again.  This  was  succeeded;  by  a  hum  of  voices, 
with  no  distinguishable  words.  Maslennikof  was  trying 
to  listen  to  what  was  going  on  in  the  drawing-room  and 
to  Nekhliidof  at  one  and  the  same  time. 

"I  have  come  to  speak  to  you  again  about  the  same 
woman,"  said  Nekhliidof. 

"  The  one  who  was  unjustly  convicted  ?  Yes,  I  remem 
ber." 

"I  want  you  to  give  me  an  order  to  transfer  Maslova 
to  the  hospital;  there  is  work  for  her  there.  They  tell 
me  that  it  can  be  done." 

Maslennikof  compressed  his  lips  together  as  if  he  were 
pondering. 

"  I  should  hardly  think  so.  But  I  will  inquire  and  will 
telegraph  you  to-morrow,"  he  said. 

"They  told  me  that  the  patients  were  numerous  and 
more  assistants  are  needed." 

"Well,  it  may  be  so;  at  all  events  I'll  let  you  know." 

"I  hope  you  will,"  said  Nekhludof. 


RESURRECTION  239 

A  burst  of  genuine  laughter  came  from  the  drawing- 
room. 

"That's  Victor,"  said  Mdslennikof,  smiling.  "He's 
very  brilliant  when  he  chooses  to  be." 

"And  one  thing  more,"  said  Nekhliidof :  "there  are  one 
hundred  and  thirty  men  in  the  jail,  who  are  kept  there 
simply  because  their  passports  had  run  out.  They  have 
been  kept  there  for  a  month."  And  then  he  related  the 
details  of  the  affair. 

"How  did  you  find  that  out?"  asked  Ma"slennikof;  a 
shadow  of  uneasiness  and  dissatisfaction  crossed  his 
face. 

"  I  went  to  see  one  of  the  prisoners,  and  while  I  was  in 
the  corridor  these  men  surrounded  me  and  pleaded " 

"Which  prisoner  did  you  visit?" 

"A  peasant  who  is  unjustly  accused.  I  have  put  his 
case  into  the  hands  of  a  lawyer.  But  that's  another 
story.  Can  it  be  possible  that  all  those  innocent  men  are 
imprisoned  just  because  the  time  of  their  passports  has 
expired  and " 

"That's  the  Prosecutor's  business,"  interrupted  M£slen- 
nikof,  in  a  tone  of  vexation.  "I  heard  you  say  a  while 
ago  that  the  new  Courts  are  so  much  better  than  the  old 
ones,  equitable  and  up  to  the  mark.  Now  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  Assistant  Prosecutor  to  visit  the  prisons  and  find 
out  whether  the  prisoners  who  are  there  are  lawfully  de 
tained.  But  these  gentlemen  are  too  busy  playing  vindt 1 
to  attend  to  their  duties." 

"Then  is  there  nothing  you  can  do?"  said  Nekhliidof 
gloomily,  remembering  that  the  lawyer  had  told  him  the 
Governor  would  lay  the  blame  on  the  Prosecutor. 

"Oh,  yes,  I  can  inquire  into  the  case." 

"  So  much  the  worse  for  her.  C'est  un  souffre-douleur" 
said  a  woman's  voice,  evidently  quite  indifferent  to  what 
she  was  saying. 

Then  came  the  voice  of  a  man,  who  seemed  to  be  teas- 

1 A  species  of  complicated  whist.  —  TR. 


24o  RESURRECTION 

ing  for  something  that  was  refused  him:  "So  much  the 
better.  I  shall  take  this,  too." 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  playful  jesting,  and  laughter. 

"No,  no,  I  shall  not  let  you  have  it,"  said  the  woman's 
voice. 

"I'll  do  all  I  can  for  you,"  repeated  Maslennikof,  ex 
tinguishing  his  cigarette  with  his  white  hand  adorned 
with  the  turquoise  ring;  "now  let  us  go  in  to  the  ladies." 

"  One  thing  more,"  said  Nekhludof,  pausing  in  the 
doorway.  "I  was  told  that  some  men  received  corporal 
punishment  in  the  prison  yesterday.  Is  that  true  ?" 

"Heavens!  My  dear  fellow,  what  will  you  ask  next? 
You're  not  the  man  to  let  loose  in  a  prison,  that's  positive, 
you  are  too  inquisitive.  Come,  come,  Annette  is  calling 
us,"  he  said,  taking  him  under  the  arm.  He  was  grow 
ing  as  excited  as  he  had  been  over  the  honor  which  the  im 
portant  personage  had  paid  him,  but  it  was  not  a  joyful 
excitement  this  time.  He  seemed  a  good  deal  ruffled. 

Nekhludof  snatched  away  his  arm,  and  without  a  word 
of  salutation  to  any  one  strode  gloomily  through  the  draw 
ing-room  and  the  hall  and  then  past  the  lacqueys,  who 
jumped  up,  and  went  into  the  entry  and  the  street. 

"  Why,  what's  the  matter  with  him  ?  What  did  you  do 
to  him?"  Annette  asked  her  husband. 

"That's  a  lafran$aise"  said  some  one. 

"I  should  call  it  a  la  Zulu" 

"He  was  always  like  that." 

Guests  were  coming  and  going  and  the  twitter  pursued 
its  course. 

The  Nekhludof  incident  furnished  the  company  with 
a  topic  for  discussion  all  the  rest  of  the  jour  fixe. 

The  day  following  his  visit  to  Maslennikof,  Nekhludof 
received  a  letter  from  him  written  on  heavy  cream-laid 
paper  decorated  with  the  government  coat  of  arms  and 
seals;  the  script  was  clear  and  bold.  This  letter  stated 
that  he  had  written  to  the  doctor  about  transferring 
Maslova  and  that  in  all  probability  his  request  would  be 


RESURRECTION  241 

granted.  He  signed  it,  "Your  affectionate  senior  com 
rade  Maslennikof,"  ending  with  a  large,  firm,  and  elabo 
rate  flourish. 

"Idiot!"  Nekhludof  could  not  help  saying.  "Senior 
comrade  "  savored  a  little  too  much  of  condescension. 

Maslennikof  seemed  to  think  that  holding  an  office 
whose  duties,  from  a  moral  point  of  view,  were  as  base 
and  contemptible  as  duties  could  be,  gave  him  a  right  to 
regard  himself  as  a  man  of  importance ;  and  he  wished  to 
show  Nekhludof,  without  exactly  flattering  him,  that  he 
was  not  too  proud  of  his  grandeur  to  call  himself  his 
comrade. 


LEX. 

THERE  is  hardly  a  superstition  more  common  or  more 
generally  accepted  than  that  which  attributes  definite 
traits  of  character  to  every  individual,  which  affirms  that 
a  man  is  kind,  wicked,  wise,  foolish,  energetic,  and  so  on. 
This  is  all  wrong.  We  may  say  of  a  man  that  he  is  more 
frequently  kind  than  cruel,  oftener  wise  than  foolish,  or 
more  energetic  than  apathetic,  and  vice  versa.  But  it 
could  never  be  true  to  say  of  one  man  that  he  is  kind  and 
wise,  and  of  another  that  he  is  wicked  and  foolish.  Yet 
this  is  our  method  of  classifying  mankind,  and  a  very 
false  method  it  is.  Men  are  like  rivers.  The  water  is 
alike  in  all  of  them;  but  each  river  is  narrow  in  some 
places  and  wide  in  others;  now  swift  and  now  sluggish, 
sometimes  clear  and  sometimes  turbid;  cold  in  winter 
and  warm  in  summer.  The  same  may  be  said  of  men. 
Each  man  bears  within  himself  the  germs  of  every  human 
quality,  displaying  each  in  turn.  We  often  say  of  a  man 
he's  not  like  himself,  and  yet  we  know  him  to  be  the  same 
individual.  In  some  men — and  Nekhludof  was  an  ex 
ample  of  this  class — these  changes  are  very  abrupt,  and 
through  one  of  these  transitions,  which  are  as  often  due  to 
physical  as  to  moral  causes,  he  was  now  passing;  to  the 

VOL.    I. — 16 


242  RESURRECTION 

emotion  of  that  triumphant  and  joyful  regeneration 
which  he  had  experienced  after  the  trial  and  his  first 
interview  with  Katiisha,  a  sense  of  fear  and  even  aversion 
had  succeeded  after  his  last  interview  with  her.  He  was 
determined  not  to  leave  her,  nor  to  abandon  his  intention 
of  marriage  with  her,  if  she  would  consent,  though  it  was 
grievously  hard  for  him. 

The  next  day  after  his  visit  to  Mdslennikof,  he  went 
again  to  the  jail  to  see  her. 

The  Inspector  consented  to  the  interview,  but  he  said 
it  could  not  take  place  in  the  office  or  in  the  lawyers' 
room;  he  would  be  obliged  to  see  her  in  the  women's 
interviewing-room.  The  Inspector  was  very  polite,  but 
more  distant  in  his  manner  towards  Nekhludof  than  he 
had  been  One  of  the  results  of  Nekhludof 's  conversation 
with  Ma"slennikof  had  been  an  order  for  greater  reticence 
in  regard  to  this  visitor. 

"You  may  see  her,"  he  said,  "but  please  do  as  I  asked 
you  about  the  money.  And  as  to  her  transfer  to  the 
hospital,  his  Excellency  has  written  about  it,  and  the 
physician  has  given  his  consent;  but  Mdslova  doesn't 
wish  to  go.  She  says  she  doesn't  care  to  empty  slops  after 
those  dirty  creatures.  You  don't  know  these  people  yet, 
Prince,"  he  added. 

Nekhludof  made  no  reply,  but  asked  if  he  might  see  her. 
A  warden  was  despatched  and  Nekhludof  followed  him 
into  the  women's  room,  which  was  vacant. 

Maslova  was  already  in  the  room;  she  emerged  from  be 
hind  the  railing,  quiet  and  timid,  and  coming  up  to 
Nekhludof,  keeping  her  eyes  averted,  she  spoke : 

"Forgive  me,  Dmitri  Iv&novitch,  I  said  a  great  many 
wicked  things  to  you  day  before  yesterday." 

"It  isn't  for  me  to  forgive  you,"  began  Nekhltidof. 

"  But  you  must  leave  me  alone  all  the  same  .    .    .   ' 
she  interrupted,  and  in  the  squinting  eyes  she  turned 
upon  him  Nekhludof  could  read  the  same  unnatural 
and  evil  expression. 


RESURRECTION  243 

"Why  must  I  leave  you  alone?" 

"Because " 

"Because  why?" 

Again  he  seemed  to  see  that  evil  glance. 

"All  I  can  say  is,  let  me  alone,"  she  replied;  "that's 
the  best  way;  I  couldn't  endure  it.  Think  no  more  about 
it."  Her  lips  quivered,  and  after  a  moment's  silence  she 
exclaimed : 

"I'd  rather  hang  myself." 

Nekhludof  recognized  in  the  voice  a  bitter  resentment 
for  an  unforgiven  offense.  But  there  was  also  something 
else  in  it, — something  whose  significance  and  value 
could  not  be  overlooked.  This  repetition  of  her  former 
refusal,  uttered  in  a  calm  and  self -con  trolled  frame  of 
mind,  relieved  all  his  uncertainty  and  restored  him  to  his 
former  mental  attitude  towards  Katiisha,  in  which  his 
soul  was  thrilled  with  solemn  and  lofty  emotions. 

"I  can  only  repeat  what  I  have  said  before,  Kattisha!" 
he  said  earnestly.  "I  ask  you  to  be  my  wife.  If  you 
do  not  wish  to  marry  me,  I  shall  not  urge  it;  but  so  long 
as  this  objection  on  your  part  continues,  I  shall  simply 
remain  near  you,  and  of  course  follow  you  wherever  you 
may  be  sent." 

"That's  your  own  affair;  I've  nothing  more  to  say," 
she  replied,  and  her  lips  began  to  tremble  again. 

He  was  silent  for  a  moment,  feeling  unable  to  speak, 
but  soon  recovering  himself  continued : 

"I  am  going  into  the  country  now,  and  later  I  shall 
go  to  Petersburg;  I  shall  do  all  I  can  about  your — our 
case,  and  God  willing,  the  verdict  may  be  set  aside." 

"Never  mind  if  it  isn't.  If  I  don't  deserve  it  for  this, 
I  deserve  it  for  other  things,"  she  said,  and  he  saw  now 
that  she  was  struggling  to  keep  back  her  tears,  and  to 
cover  her  emotion  suddenly  asked : 

"Well,  did  you  see  Menshdf ?  It  is  true  that  they  are 
not  guilty.  Isn't  it?" 

"Yes,  I  think  it  is." 


244  RESURRECTION 

"She  is  such  a  nice  old  woman." 

He  repeated  what  Menshdf  had  told  him,  and  then 
asked  her  whether  she  needed  anything  for  herself,  but 
she  refused  to  admit  that  she  needed  anything  at  all. 

And  again  they  were  silent. 

"And  as  to  the  hospital,"  she  said  suddenly,  glancing 
at  him  with  her  squinting  eyes,  "I  will  go  if  you  wish 
it,  and  I  will  not  touch  a  drop  of  liquor,  either.  .  .  . " 

Nekhliidof  gazed  silently  into  her  eyes.  They  were 
smiling  now. 

"That's  good,"  was  all  he  said  and  then  bade  her 
good-by. 

"Yes,  she  is  a  different  being!"  he  thought,  and  then 
there  came  to  him  as  if  to  console  him  for  his  past  revul 
sions  of  feeling,  a  more  vivid  sense  of  the  unconquerable 
power  of  love  than  he  had  ever  experienced  in  all  his 
life. 

When,  after  this  interview,  Maslova  went  back  to  her 
foul  cell,  she  took  off  her  prison  wrapper  and  sat  down  on 
the  bunk,  letting  her  hands  fall  on  her  knees.  The  only 
other  prisoners  in  the  cell  were  the  consumptive  girl 
Vladimirsky,  with  her  baby,  old  Menshova,  and  the  signal- 
woman  with  the  two  children.  The  sub-deacon's  daugh 
ter  had  been  pronounced  insane  yesterday,  and  sent  to  the 
hospital.  The  rest  of  the  women  were  out  washing.  The 
old  woman  was  sound  asleep  in  her  bunk;  the  cell  door 
stood  open  and  the  children  were  playing  in  the  corridor. 
Vladimirsky,  with  her  child  in  her  arms,  and  the  signal- 
woman,  who  was  knitting  a  stocking,  came  up  to  Mdslova. 

"Well,  did  you  see  him?"  she  asked. 

Maslova  sat  dangling  her  feet  over  the  edge  of  the  high 
bunk;  she  made  no  reply. 

"Now  what  are  you  crying  about?"  said  the  signal- 
woman.  "  You've  got  to  keep  up  your  spirits,  you  know. 
Eh,  Katiisha,  come  now!"  she  said,  her  fingers  moving 
like  lightning. 

But  still  Maslova  never  opened  her  lips. 


RESURRECTION  245 

"  Our  folks  are  all  out  washing.  Such  a  lot  of  alms  as 
they  gave  to-day,  you  never  knew!"  said  Vladimirsky. 

"Finashka !"  cried  the  signal-woman.  "  What's  become 
of  the  little  rascal  ?" 

She  took  out  one  knitting  needle  and  thrusting  it 
through  both  the  ball  and  the  stocking,  went  out  into  the 
corridor. 

Just  then  the  sound  of  footsteps  and  women's  voices 
was  heard,  and  presently  the  other  occupants  of  the  cell 
came  in.  They  all  wore  shoes  and  each  one  carried  a 
kaldtch  in  her  hand;  some  had  two.  Feddsya  went  straight 
to  Maslova. 

"Has  anything  gone  wrong?"  she  asked,  casting  a 
tender  glance  at  her  friend  out  of  her  clear  blue  eyes. 
"Those  are  for  our  tea,"  she  added,  as  she  put  the 
kalatchi  on  the  shelf. 

"  Has  he  changed  his  mind  about  marrying  you  ?"  asked 
Korabldva. 

"No,  but  I  will  not  have  it,"  said  Maslova. 

"The  more  fool  you!"  said  Korabldva,  in  her  bass 
voice. 

"  Where  is  the  use  of  marrying  if  one  can't  live  with  a 
man?"  said  Feddsya. 

"But  your  husband  is  going  with  you,"  retorted  the 
signal-woman. 

"Yes,  but  we  are  already  married,"  said  Feddsya.  "I 
don't  see  why  he  should  go  through  the  legal  ceremony,  if 
he  can't  live  up  to  it  afterwards." 

"Well,  you  are  a  stupid!  Why,  indeed?  But  if  he 
marries  her,  she'll  have  everything  that  money  can  give 
her." 

"He  told  me  that  no  matter  where  I  was,  he  should 
follow  me,"  said  Maslova.  "  I  don't  care  whether  he  does 
or  not,  I  shan't  say  anything  more  about  it.  He's  going 
to  Petersburg  now  to  look  after  my  case.  He  is  related  to 
all  the  Ministers.  But  I've  no  use  foi  him  anyway!"  she 
ended. 


RESURRECTION 

"Of  course,  you  haven't,"  Korabldva  suddenly  agreed- 
she  was  rummaging  in  her  bag,  and  was  evidently  think 
ing  of  something  else.  "Let's  have  a  drink." 

You  may  if  you  like,  I  shan't,"  answered  M£slova 


BOOK  II. 

I. 

IT  might  be  about  two  weeks  before  Maslova's  case 
would  come  before  the  Senate,  and  Nekhliidof  meant  to 
reach  Petersburg  by  that  time,  and  if  the  affair  went  wrong 
in  the  Senate,  send  in  a  petition  to  the  Emperor,  as  the 
lawyer  who  had  already  drawn  it  up  had  advised  him  to 
do.  Then,  supposing  this  petition  were  to  be  dismissed  — 
he  was  quite  prepared  for  such  a  result  since  the  reasons 
for  appeal  were  by  no  means  indisputable, — the  group  of 
convicts  to  which  Maslova  belonged  was  likely  to  start  in 
the  early  days  of  June;  therefore  in  order  to  be  ready 
to  follow  Maslova  to  Siberia — which  was  Nekhliidof 's 
unalterable  determination — it  would  be  necessary  for  him 
to  visit  his  estates  and  settle  his  affairs. 

He  went  first  to  Kuzmmskoe,  a  large  estate  in  the 
black  soil  belt,  whence  he  derived  his  principal  income. 
He  had  lived  there  in  his  childhood  and  youth  and  visited 
it  twice  since  he  attained  his  majority.  On  one  occasion, 
at  his  mother's  request,  he  took  a  German  steward  with 
him,  and  made  an  inventory  of  the  property,  so  that  he 
was  familiar  with  its  condition  and  the  relation  of  the  peas 
ants  to  the  " administration,"  that  is,  to  the  landed  pro 
prietor.  These  relations  were  of  such  a  nature  that  the 
peasants  were  entirely  dependent  upon  the  "administra 
tion."  Nekhludof  realized  this  when  he  was  a  University 
student  and  had  accepted  and  professed  the  doctrines 
of  Henry  George,  and  while  still  under  the  influence  of 
these  doctrines  he  had  given  his  paternal  estate  to  the 
peasants.  It  was  true  that  after  he  left  the  army,  when 
he  had  acquired  the  habit  of  spending  some  twenty  thou 
sand  roubles  a  year,  his  investigations  in  the  domain  ol 

247 


248  RESURRECTION 

social  science  lost  all  interest  for  him;  they  were  not  in 
harmony  with  his  daily  life;  he  never  cared  to  ask  him 
self  where  the  money  his  mother  gave  him  came  from, 
choosing  rather  to  dismiss  all  thoughts  of  it.  But  his 
mother's  death,  his  own  subsequent  inheritance,  and  the 
necessity  for  managing  his  property,  that  is,  his  landed 
estate,  again  brought  up  the  question  of  his  relations  to 
that  same  landed  estate.  A  month  ago  Nekhludof  would 
have  told  himself  that  he  could  never  change  the  existing 
order  of  things,  that  he  was  not  the  steward,  and  would 
have  continued  living  at  a  distance  from  his  estates  and 
receiving  his  income  with  the  utmost  serenity.  But  now 
he  decided  that  although  he  was  contemplating  a  journey 
to  Siberia,  as  well  as  complicated  and  difficult  relations 
with  the  prison  system  which  would  require  money,  still 
he  could  not  leave  matters  in  their  former  condition;  he 
must  make  a  change  even  though  he  himself  were  the  loser 
by  it.  In  the  first  place  he  decided  not  to  cultivate  the 
land  himself  any  longer  but  to  rent  it  at  reasonable  rates 
to  the  peasants,  thus  giving  them  a  chance  to  become,  to  a 
certain  extent,  independent  of  the  landowner.  Many  a 
time  when  he  used  to  compare  the  present  position  of  the 
landed  proprietor  with  that  of  serf-owner,  he  would  draw  a 
parallel  between  renting  the  land  to  the  peasant,  instead 
of  cultivating  the  same  land  by  hired  labor,  and  the  old 
system  employed  by  the  serf-owners  of  making  their  serfs 
pay  them  a  certain  quit-rent  in  the  place  of  labor.  Of 
course  this  was  not  a  complete  solution  of  the  problem, 
but  it  was  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  a  change  from  a 
harsh  to  a  mild  form  of  tyranny.  And  this  was  what  he 
had  determined  to  do. 

Nekhludof  arrived  at  Kuzminskoe  about  noon.  Intend 
ing  to  simplify  his  life  in  every  respect,  he  had  not  tele 
graphed. 

At  the  station  he  found  a  tarantdss1  with  a  span  of 
horses  driven  by  a  young  fellow  who  wore  a  peasant's 

1 A  country  con  veyance.  —  TR. 


RESURRECTION  249 

coat  made  of  nankeen,  belted  in  far  below  the  waist  line. 
This  youth  sat  sideways  on  the  seat,  as  country  yam- 
schiks1  always  do.  It  serves  to  facilitate  conversation 
with  the  passenger,  and  when  the  driver  is  conversing, 
the  lame  white  horse  inside  the  shafts  and  the  broken- 
winded,  gaunt-looking  beast  outside  have  a  chance  to 
walk,  which  they  are  always  pleased  to  do. 

The  driver  was  gossiping  about  the  steward  at  Kuzmin- 
skoe;  he  hadn't  the  faintest  idea  that  he  was  driving  the 
master, — Nekhludof  having  purposely  concealed  his 
name. 

"This  German  fellow  puts  on  lots  of  style,"  said  the 
driver,  who,  having  lived  in  town  and  read  novels,  was 
rather  proud  of  his  education.  He  sat  partly  facing 
Nekhludof,  grasping  his  whip  now  by  the  handle  and  now 
by  the  lash. 

"He  has  bought  himself  a  cream-colored  troika,  and 
when  he  drives  out  with  his  wife,  there  is  no  show  for 
anybody  else,"  he  went  on.  "At  Christmas  time  he  had 
a  tree  up  at  the  big  house;  I  drove  some  of  the  company. 
It  was  lighted  by  electric  lights.  There  was  nothing  like 
it  in  the  whole  district.  With  all  the  money  he  has  raked 
in,  of  course  he  can  have  anything  he  wants.  ...  I 
heard  somebody  say  he  had  bought  a  fine  estate." 

Nekhludof  had  thought  that  he  was  perfectly  indiffer 
ent  to  the  way  the  German  managed  his  estate  or  whether 
he  made  much  or  little  out  of  it.  But  the  story  of  the 
long-waisted  driver  was  anything  but  pleasant.  He  was 
enjoying  the  beautiful  day,  however;  he  watched  with  de 
light  the  heavy  dark  clouds  that  every  now  and  then 
obscured  the  sun,  the  brown  fields  where  he  saw  the 
peasants  plowing  the  soil  for  the  oats,  the  larks  soaring 
above  the  green  fields,  the  forests  already  covered  with 
fresh  verdure,  except  the  tardy  oaks,  and  the  meadows 
dotted  with  grazing  cattle  and  horses;  then  other  fields 
where  peasants  were  plowing,  and  suddenly  he  was 

1  Drivers.  —  TR. 


250  RESURRECTION 

reminded  that  something  unpleasant  had  happened,  and 
when  he  asked  himself  what  it  was,  he  remembered  the 
driver's  story  about  the  way  the  German  was  managing 
Kuzmmskoe. 

But  after  he  reached  Kuzminskoe  and  had  looked  into 
matters  this  impression  was  forgotten.  The  inspection 
of  the  books  and  the  talk  with  the  foreman,  who  artlessly 
demonstrated  to  him  the  advantages  which  accrued  from 
the  small  amount  of  land  owned  by  the  peasants,  and  the 
fact  that  it  lay  in  the  midst  of  his  own  des statins,  —  all  this 
confirmed  NekhMdof  more  and  more  strongly  in  his  in 
tention  of  giving  up  farming  and  renting  all  the  land  to 
the  peasants. 

From  his  office-books  and  the  talk  with  the  foreman  he 
learned  that  two-thirds  of  the  best  arable  land  was  now 
cultivated  by  hired  workmen  with  improved  implements, 
exactly  as  had  been  done  before,  and  that  the  remaining 
third  was  tilled  by  peasants  who  received  five  roubles  a 
dessiatin;  that  is  to  say,  for  five  roubles  a  peasant  agreed 
to  plow,  harrow,  and  sow  each  dessiatin  three  times  over, 
not  to  speak  of  the  mowing  and  the  gathering  of  the 
crops  into  the  granary;  all  this  signified  an  amount  of 
labor  which  would  have  cost  at  least  ten  roubles  a  dessia 
tin  if  hired  workmen  had  done  it.  Moreover,  the  peasants 
paid  by  their  labor — and  dearly  too — for  all  they  got 
from  the  "administration."  They  paid  by  their  work 
when  they  hired  meadow  land,  or  bought  wood  and  po 
tato  stalks  for  greens,  and  most  of  them  were  in  debt  to  the 
administration.  Consequently  the  peasants  paid  four 
times  as  much  for  the  land  they  hired  to  raise  their  crops, 
as  the  owner  could  have  derived  from  the  sale  of  the  land 
and  the  investment  of  the  money  at  five  per  cent. 

Nekhludof  had  known  all  this  before,  but  now  it  seemed 
to  strike  him  afresh,  and  he  only  wondered  how  he  or  any 
other  landowner  could  help  seeing  the  abnormal  nature  of 
such  a  state  of  affairs.  He  listened  to  all  the  arguments 
of  the  steward,  who  told  him  what  a  loss  there  would  be 


RESURRECTION  251 

on  the  farming-stock,  which  couldn't  be  sold  for  one 
quarter  of  its  cost,  if  the  peasants  were  allowed  to  hire  the 
land,  and  how  bad  it  would  be  for  the  soil  in  every  way, 
and  how  much  of  his  income  he  would  lose  by  such  a 
change,  —  but  all  these  arguments  served  only  to  confirm 
him  in  the  belief  that  he  was  doing  the  right  thing  in 
giving  the  land  to  the  peasants  and  depriving  himself  of 
the  larger  part  of  his  income.  He  decided  to  settle  the 
business  then  and  there  before  he  left  the  place.  The 
harvesting  and  sale  of  the  crops,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
cattle  and  the  useless  out-buildings,  he  would  leave  to  the 
care  of  the  steward  after  his  departure.  He  asked  the 
steward  to  lose  no  time  in  calling  a  meeting  of  the  peas 
ants  from  the  three  villages  that  lay  in  the  midst  of  his 
estate,  in  order  that  he  might  tell  them  what  he  meant  to 
do,  and  make  an  agreement  with  them  about  the  rent 
they  were  to  pay. 

Quite  pleased  with  himself  for  resisting  the  arguments 
of  the  steward,  and  elated  with  the  idea  of  the  personal 
sacrifice  he  was  going  to  make  in  behalf  of  the  peasants, 
Nekhludof  left  the  office,  and  thinking  over  what  he 
should  say  at  the  impending  interview,  he  strolled  around 
the  house;  walking  across  the  flower-beds  which  had  not 
been  cultivated  this  year — except  one  which  was  opposite 
the  steward's  house,  he  crossed  the  lawn-tennis  ground, 
now  overgrown  with  chicory,  and  entered  the  linden 
path  where  he  always  used  to  smoke  his  cigar  and  where 
three  years  ago  he  had  carried  on  a  flirtation  with  pretty 
Kirimov.  After  he  had  planned  the  address  he  was  going 
to  deliver  to  the  peasants  to-morrow,  he  went  in  to  the 
steward,  and  having  discussed  over  the  tea-table  the 
winding  up  of  his  affairs,  calm  and  contented  when  he 
thought  of  the  benevolent  action  he  was  going  to  perform 
for  the  benefit  of  the  peasants,  he  withdrew  to  that  bed 
room  in  the  great  mansion  which  had  always  been  used 
for  a  guest-room. 

It  was  a  neat  little  room,  with  views  of  Venice  on  the 


252  RESURRECTION 

walls,  a  mirror  between  the  two  windows,  and  a  clean 
spring  bed.  By  the  bedside  stood  a  table,  holding  a 
decanter  of  water,  matches,  and  an  extinguisher.  On  the 
large  table,  under  the  looking-glass,  his  valise  stood  open, 
revealing  his  traveling  dressing-case,  and  the  books  which 
he  had  brought  to  read  on  his  journey :  one  Russian  book, 
Researches  on  Criminal  Law,  a  German  book  on  the  same 
subject,  and  one  English  book.  He  intended  to  read  them 
during  his  leisure  moments  while  going  to  and  fro  be 
tween  the  different  villages,  but  it  was  too  late  to  begin 
to-day,  and  he  meant  to  go  to  bed  early,  so  as  to  be  ready 
for  his  talk  with  the  peasants  on  the  following  day. 
An  ancient,  inlaid  mahogany  arm-chair  stood  in  one 
corner,  and  at  the  sight  of  this  chair  which  he  remembered 
in  his  mother's  bedroom,  an  emotion  suddenly  sprang  up 
in  his  soul  for  which  he  was  totally  unprepared.  He  began 
to  feel  sorry  for  the  house  that  was  going  to  ruin,  the 
garden  which  would  be  overgrown  with  weeds,  the  forests 
that  would  be  destroyed,  and  all  those  barns,  sheds, 
stables,  and  tool -houses,  the  machinery,  the  horses,  and  the 
cows,  all  that  establishment  which  he  had  not  created,  to  be 
sure,  but  which  had  been  acquired  by  his  family  and 
kept  up  with  such  infinite  pains.  He  used  to  think  that  it 
would  be  easy  enough  to  give  it  all  up,  but  now  the  sense 
of  loss  had  come  over  him.  How  could  he  give  up  the 
land  and  half  his  income,  when  he  was  so  likely  to  need 
it? 

Plausible  arguments  against  the  wisdom  of  renting  the 
land  to  the  peasants  and  abandoning  the  responsibility  of 
the  estate,  came  crowding  into  his  mind. 

"I  have  no  right  to  own  that  land;  if  I  did  not  own  it 
I  should  not  be  obliged  to  keep  up  the  estate.  Besides,  I 
shall  very  soon  be  going  to  Siberia,  and  then  I  shall  have 
no  use  either  for  house  or  for  land,"  said  one  voice.  "  That 
may  be  true,"  answered  a  second  voice,  "but  in  the  first 
place  you  are  not  going  to  live  in  Siberia  all  your  life. 
If  you  marry,  you  may  have  children,  and  as  you  have 


RESURRECTION  253 

inherited  the  estate  in  good  order,  it  is  your  duty  to 
transmit  it  to  them  in  as  good  a  condition  as  it  was  in 
when  you  received  it.  One  owes  a  duty  to  the  land.  It 
is  a  very  easy  matter  to  give  it  all  up  or  to  destroy  it, 
but  it  was  not  so  easy  to  acquire  it.  You  ought  to  take 
time  for  reflection  and  having  decided  upon  your  future 
course  of  life,  then  dispose  of  your  property  according  to 
your  decision.  First  of  all,  are  you  sure  of  yourself? 
Then,  you  should  also  ask  yourself:  Am  I  acting  as  my 
conscience  bids  me,  or  only  posing  for  effect,  to  win  the 
applause  of  men,  and  to  pride  myself  on  what  I  have 
done?" 

Nekhludof  asked  himself  all  these  questions  and  was 
forced  to  admit  that  the  opinion  of  men  did  influence  his 
decision  to  a  certain  extent.  And  the  longer  he  thought 
about  it,  the  more  questions  presented  themselves  and  the 
more  insoluble  they  became.  To  escape  from  his  thoughts 
he  went  to  bed  and  tried  to  go  to  sleep  and  refresh  him 
self  against  the  morrow,  when  all  these  puzzling  questions 
had  to  be  decided. 

But  he  could  not  sleep.  Together  with  the  fresh  night 
breezes  and  the  moonlight,  the  croaking  voices  of  the 
frogs  came  in  at  the  window;  and  now  he  heard  the  nightin 
gales  trilling  in  the  park;  there  was  one  just  under  his 
window,  hidden  in  a  blossoming  lilac-bush.  As  he  lay 
there  listening  to  the  nightingales  and  the  frogs,  something 
made  him  remember  the  playing  of  the  Inspector's 
daughter;  and  the  thought  of  the  Inspector  brought 
Maslova  to  his  mind;  he  remembered  how  her  lips  had 
quivered  when  she  said,  "Think  no  more  about  it,"  and 
somehow  quivering  lips  and  croaking  frogs  were  all 
mixed  up  together  in  his  mind.  Then  he  seemed  to  see 
the  German  steward  falling  into  the  frog-pond,  and  he 
tried  to  hold  him  back,  when  the  steward  suddenly  turned 
into  Mdslova,  who  began  at  once  to  reproach  him, — "  I 
am  a  convict  and  you  are  a  Prince." 

"No,  I  must  never  give  in,"  thought  Nekhludof,  as  he 


*54  RESURRECTION 

woke  from  his  doze;  and  then  he  asked  himself:  "Am  I 
doing  right  or  wrong?  I  cannot  tell,  and  it  makes  no 
difference,  no  difference  at  all.  The  thing  is  to  sleep.'* 
Suddenly  he  seemed  to  be  in  the  very  same  place  where 
he  had  dreamed  of  seeing  the  steward  and  M£slova,  and 
there  it  all  ended. 

II. 

WHEN  Nekhludof  woke  the  next  morning,  he  found 
that  it  was  nine  o'clock.  The  young  clerk  who  waited  on 
him,  hearing  him  stirring,  brought  his  shoes,  shining  as 
they  had  never  shone  before.  He  also  brought  the  cold 
clear  spring  water  and  announced  that  the  peasants  were 
beginning  to  assemble.  Nekhludof  jumped  out  of  bed 
with  a  realizing  sense  of  his  situation.  His  regrets  of  the 
previous  evening,  for  the  disposal  of  the  land  and  the 
settlement  of  affairs  connected  with  the  management  of 
the  estate,  had  vanished.  He  was  surprised  that  he  had 
ever  felt  them.  Now  he  rejoiced  at  the  thought  of  the  act 
he  had  planned,  and  felt  proud  of  it,  too.  From  the  win 
dow  of  his  room  could  be  seen  the  lawn-tennis  court, 
now  overgrown  with  chicory,  and  where  in  compliance 
with  the  orders  of  the  steward  the  peasants  were  assem 
bling.  No  wonder  the  frogs  had  croaked  the  night  before ; 
it  was  a  cloudy  morning;  earlier  in  the  day  a  warm  and 
gentle  rain  had  been  falling  and  the  drops  still  clung  to 
the  branches  of  the  trees,  to  the  leaves,  to  every  blade  of 
grass.  Sweet  odors  came  in  at  the  window,  — a  fragrance 
of  the  fresh  vegetation  and  the  peculiar  smell  of  moist 
soil  which  has  been  crying  for  rain  and  is  not  yet  satisfied. 
Several  times  while  he  was  dressing  he  put  his  head  out  of 
the  window  and  watched  the  peasants  who  were  assem 
bling  on  the  lawn-tennis  court.  They  came  up  one  by  one, 
took  off  their  hats  as  they  bowed  to  each  other,  and  falling 
into  groups  stood  resting  on  their  sticks.  The  steward, 
a  stout,  muscular,  robust-looking  young  man,  dressed  in  a 


THE    PEASANTS    WERE   ALL    ASSEMBLED 


RESURRECTION  255 

short  sack-coat  with  big  buttons  and  a  green  standing 
collar,  came  in  to  tell  Nekhliidof  that  the  peasants  were 
all  assembled,  but  that  they  might  as  well  wait  until  he 
had  taken  his  tea  or  coffee,  both  of  which  were  prepared. 

"I  should  go  and  see  them  at  once,"  said  Nekhludof, 
and  an  unexpected  feeling  of  timidity  and  shame  at  the 
thought  of  the  talk  he  was  going  to  have  with  the  peasants 
took  possession  of  him. 

He  was  about  to  grant  one  of  their  dearest  wishes, — a 
wish  which  the  peasants  never  expected  would  be  gratified, 
—  to  rent  the  land  to  them  at  a  low  price;  in  other  words 
he  was  about  to  confer  a  benefit  upon  them,  and  here  he 
was  feeling  absolutely  ashamed  of  himself.  When  he  ap 
proached  them  and  the  brown  heads  and  gray  heads, 
curly  heads  and  bald  heads,  doffed  their  hats  as  he  drew 
near,  he  was  so  confused  that  for  some  time  he  could  not 
utter  a  word.  A  fine  rain  was  falling,  wetting  the  hair, 
beards,  and  coarse  woolen  coats  of  the  peasants,  as  they 
stood  gazing  at  their  landlord  and  waiting  for  him  to 
speak,  while  he  was  too  much  embarrassed  to  open  his  lips. 
This  awkward  silence  was  interrupted  by  the  self-possessed 
German,  who  flattered  himself  that  what  he  didn't  know 
about  the  Russian  peasant  wasn't  worth  knowing,  and  who 
spoke  the  language  quite  like  a  native.  This  somewhat 
gross-looking,  muscular  man,  as  well  as  Nekhludof  him 
self,  presented  a  sharp  contrast  to  the  peasants,  with  their 
thin,  shriveled  faces  and  their  prominent  shoulder-blades 
only  half  concealed  by  their  coats. 

"The  Prince  wishes  to  help  you;  he  is  thinking  of 
letting  you  hire  the  land;  pity  you're  not  more  worthy  of 
this  kindness,"  said  the  steward. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that,  Vassfly  Karlovitch? 
Haven't  we  worked  well  for  you  ?  We  are  much  indebted 
to  the  deceased  lady  —  may  God  grant  her  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven — and  to  the  young  Prince,  who  looks  out  for 
us,"  said  a  red-bearded  peasant,  who  was  reckoned  a 
fine  talker. 


256  RESURRECTION 

"  The  reason  why  I  have  asked  you  to  come  here  this 
morning  is  because  I  want  to  let  you  have  all  the  land,  — 
that  is,  if  you  would  like  it,"  said  Nekhliidof. 

The  peasants  made  no  answer;  either  they  did  not 
understand  him,  or  they  could  not  believe  their  ears. 

"What  do  you  mean  when  you  say  'let  us  have*  the 
land?"  said  a  middle-aged  peasant  who  wore  a  sleeveless 
coat. 

"I  mean  to  let  you  have  it  to  use,  and  charge  you  a 
very  small  sum  for  the  rent  of  it." 

"  That's  good,"  said  an  old  man. 

"If  only  the  price  isn't  too  high,"  said  another. 

"Well,  why  should  we  refuse?" 

"We  know  how  to  manage  the  land;  we're  used  to  the 
work.  That's  the  way  we  earn  our  living." 

"It'll  be  better  for  you,  too.  You'll  only  have  to  take 
in  the  money  and  be  saved  from  all  the  sin!"  cried  voices 
from  the  crowd. 

"  The  sin  is  on  your  side,"  said  the  steward.  "  If  you'd 
only  attend  to  your  work  and  keep  the  peace." 

"That's  easier  said  than  done,  Vassily  Kdrlovitch," 
said  an  old  peasant  with  a  sharp  nose.  "  You  say :  '  Why 
did  you  let  the  horse  get  into  the  oats  ?'  and  let  me  ask  you 
who  did  let  it  get  in?  All  day  long, — and  sometimes  a 
day  is  as  long  as  a  year,  —  I  may  have  swung  the  scythe, 
or  I  may  have  dropped  to  sleep,  and  before  you  know  it 
the  horse  is  in  your  oats.  Then  you  skin  me !" 

"You  ought  to  be  more  orderly." 

"That's  all  very  well  to  say,  —  *  orderly.'  We  simply 
can't  do  it,"  said  a  tall,  black-haired,  middle-aged  man. 

"I  told  you  to  build  a  fence." 

"  Then  why  didn't  you  give  us  the  logs  ?"  asked  a  small, 
homely-looking  peasant,  who  stood  behind  the  others.  "  I 
was  going  to  do  it  this  summer,  but  you  had  me  locked  up 
to  feed  vermin  for  three  months.  I'd  like  to  know  how  I 
could  build  it?" 

"  What  does  he  mean  ?"  Nekhliidof  asked  the  steward. 


RESURRECTION  257 

"Der  erste  Dieb  im  Dorfe"  replied  the  steward  in  Ger 
man.  "He  has  been  caught  in  the  forest  every  year. 
You'd  better  learn  to  respect  your  neighbors'  property," 
said  the  steward. 

"Don't  we  show  you  respect  enough?"  asked  the  old 
man.  "We  don't  dare  to  show  you  anything  else,"  he 
added,  "because  we  are  in  your  power;  you  could  twist 
us  into  rope." 

"  Oh,  my  fine  fellows,  we  never  expect  to  get  the  better 
of  you;  all  we  ask  is  that  you  keep  yourselves  to  your 
selves." 

"  You  don't  get  the  better  of  us  ?  And  how  about  your 
smashing  my  jaw  last  summer  ?  Did  I  get  any  redress  ? 
You  know  yourself  that  a  rich  man  can't  be  sued." 

"Then  why  do  you  break  the  laws?" 

And  so  this  tournament  of  words  went  on  at  full  tilt, 
though  neither  party  clearly  understood  what  they  were 
saying,  nor  why  they  said  it.  It  was  not  difficult  to  dis 
cern  repressed  wrath  on  one  side  and  conscious  superi 
ority  on  the  other.  It  distressed  Nekhlud6f  to  listen  to 
all  this,  and  he  made  an  effort  to  bring  them  back  to  the 
matter  in  hand,  in  order  to  settle  about  prices  and  the 
dates  of  payment. 

"Now,  then,  how  about  the  land?  Do  you  want  it? 
And  if  you  do,  what  price  will  you  pay  for  the  rent?" 

"You  have  the  land  to  let;  it  is  for  you  to  say  what  you 
want  for  it." 

Nekhliidof  named  a  price.  But  as  usual,  although  it 
was  much  lower  than  the  prices  about  there,  the  peasants 
began  to  find  fault,  and  tried  to  beat  him  down,  saying 
that  it  was  more  than  they  could  pay.  He  had  expected 
that  his  proposal  would  be  welcomed  with  delight,  but  if 
they  were  delighted  they  took  good  care  not  to  show  it. 
The  only  sign  by  which  they  betrayed  their  satisfaction 
was  their  immediate  discussion  of  the  way  the  land  should 
be  divided  among  them,  whether  it  should  be  held  by  the 
whole  commune,  or  apportioned  in  lots  to  each  village. 

VOL.   I.— 17 


258  RESURRECTION 

Disputes  raged  fast  and  furious  among  those  who  pro 
posed  to  exclude  the  shiftless  laborers,  and  such  as  were 
not  likely  to  pay  their  rent,  and  also  certain  ones  whom 
they  wanted  to  exclude  for  other  seasons.  The  steward 
finally  took  the  affair  into  his  own  hands,  and  then  the 
prices  and  dates  of  payment  were  promptly  settled.  After 
these  matters  had  been  arranged,  the  peasants,  still  talk 
ing  in  their  high-pitched  voices,  started  for  home,  going 
down  the  hill  in  the  direction  of  their  villages,  while 
Nekhliidof  went  back  to  the  office  with  the  steward  to 
draw  up  the  contract. 

Everything  had  been  arranged  just  as  the  former  had 
wished  and  expected  it  would  be ;  his  peasants  were  going 
to  get  their  land  for  thirty  per  cent  less  than  that  paid 
by  other  peasants  in  the  district,  decreasing  his  own  income 
from  that  estate  almost  by  a  half;  still  it  would  be  enough 
for  Nekhliidof,  especially  as  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of 
a  wood-lot,  and  the  probable  sum  he  would  get  from  his 
live-stock  and  machinery,  would  also  be  coming  in.  So 
everything  seemed  to  have  been  satisfactorily  settled;  and 
yet  Nekhliidof  couldn't  escape  a  sense  of  mortifica 
tion.  A  few  of  the  peasants  had  expressed  their  gratitude, 
but  most  of  them  seemed  rather  dissatisfied  and  he  felt 
that  more  had  been  expected  of  him.  The  amount  of  it 
was,  that  he  had  made  a  serious  sacrifice,  and  yet  fallen 
short  of  what  the  peasants  had  looked  for. 

The  next  day  the  agreement  was  signed,  and  Nekhliidof, 
escorted  by  a  deputation  of  elderly  peasants  who  had  come 
to  see  him  off,  got  into  the  steward's  stylish  barouche, 
drawn  by  a  troikay  —  which  the  driver  from  the  station 
had  so  elaborately  described, — and  bidding  the  peasants 
good-by  left  them,  still  dubiously  shaking  their  heads  in  a 
bewildered  sort  of  way,  as  if  they  were  not  quite  satisfied 
yet,  and  drove  to  the  station.  He  had  a  feeling  as  if  he 
were  leaving  everything  at  loose  ends.  The  peasants  were 
dissatisfied  with  Nekhliidof,  and  Nekhliidof  was  dis 
satisfied  with  himself.  He  couldn't  have  told  the  reason 


RESURRECTION  259 

why  he   felt  so   melancholy  and  ashamed  of  himself. 
He  could  only  recognize  the  fact. 

III. 

FROM  Kuzmmskoe  he  drove  to  the  estate  which  he  had 
inherited  from  his  aunts,  the  place  where  he  had  met 
Katiisha. 

Here  also  he  wanted  to  arrange  about  the  land  as  he  had 
done  in  Kuzminskoe,  and  moreover  find  out  all  he  could 
concerning  Katiisha  and  their  child,  —  if  it  really  was 
dead,  and  if  so,  how  it  had  died.  He  reached  Pan6vo 
early  in  the  morning,  and  the  first  thing  that  impressed 
him  as  he  drove  into  the  yard  was  the  look  of  decay  and 
dilapidation  that  hung  over  everything,  and  particularly 
the  old  house  itself.  The  iron  roof,  which  used  to  be 
green,  was  now  reddened  with  rust,  showing  how  long  it 
was  since  it  had  had  a  coat  of  paint;  several  layers  of  its  iron 
sheathing  were  bent  back,  evidently  the  work  of  the  storm. 
Some  of  the  clapboards  had  been  wrenched  off  the  house ; 
the  rusty  nails  had  evidently  been  pulled  out  and  the 
boards  stripped  off,  wherever  they  could  be  easily 
reached.  Both  of  the  porches  — the  back  porch  which  he 
had  special  reason  to  remember,  and  the  front  one — • 
had  rotted  away  and  broken  down.  Nothing  was  left 
of  the  steps  except  the  supports  on  which  they  had  rested. 

Some  of  the  windows,  where  the  panes  of  glass  had  been 
broken,  were  boarded  up,  and  the  little  house  the  steward 
occupied,  as  well  as  the  kitchen  and  stables,  were  gray  and 
dilapidated.  The  garden  alone  had  escaped  the  universal 
blight;  that  was  more  luxuriant  and  wilder  than  ever. 
Everything  was  in  full  bloom.  All  the  cherry,  apple,  and 
plum  trees  looked  like  so  many  white  clouds  beyond  the 
garden  fence.  The  lilac-hedge  was  in  bloom,  too,  just  as 
it  was  twelve  years  ago,  when  Nekhluddf  played  gortlki 
with  sixteen-year-old  Katiisha  and  fell  among  the  nettles. 
The  larch,  which  Sdfya  Ivdnovna  had  planted  near  the 


26o  RESURRECTION 

house — a  slender  shoot  as  he  recalled  it, — had  grown 
into  a  tall  tree  with  a  trunk  fit  for  a  good  solid  beam ;  its 
yellowish  green  needles,  soft  and  fluffy,  were  pricking  out 
all  over  it.  The  river,  now  within  its  banks,  was  rushing 
noisily  over  the  mill-dam.  Herds  of  cattle  of  all  sorts  and 
kinds,  belonging  to  the  peasants,  were  grazing  in  the 
meadow  beyond.  The  steward,  a  Seminarian,  who  had 
never  finished  his  course  in  \he  Seminary,1  met  Nekhludof 
in  the  yard  with  the  chronic  smile  peculiar  to  him,  and 
invited  him  into  the  office  still  smiling,  as  if  he  had  some 
thing  pleasant  to  tell.  He  withdrew  behind  the  partition; 
mysterious  whispering  was  heard  and  then  silence. 
Nekhliidof  heard  his  izvdstchik  —  who  had  been  waiting 
for  his  tip — drive  off,  the  tiny  bell  jingled  for  an  instant, 
and  again  silence.  A  bare-footed  peasant  girl  ran  past  the 
window.  She  wore  an  embroidered  blouse,  and  strange 
cannon-shaped  earrings  hung  from  her  ears.  Then  a  peas 
ant  clattered  along  the  well-trodden  path;  he  was  running 
too,  as  fast  as  his  heavy  hobnailed  boots  permitted. 

Nekhliidof  sat  beside  the  window,  looking  into  the 
garden  and  listening.  A  fresh  spring  breeze  wafted  the 
odor  of  the  newly  turned-up  soil  across  the  window  sill, 
all  scarred  with  marks  of  the  knife.  It  lifted  the  hair 
from  his  moist  brow  and  rustled  the  papers  that  lay  on  the 
sill.  He  heard  the  swift  incessant  patter  of  the  wooden 
paddles  with  which  the  women  beat  the  clothes  they  were 
washing,  as  it  came  back  from  the  glittering  sunlit  surface 
of  the  mill-stream,  the  rhythmical  sound  of  the  water 
rushing  over  the  wheel,  and  the  loud  buzzing  of  a  startled 
fly. 

Then  suddenly  he  remembered  hearing  these  very 
sounds,  years  ago,  when  he  was  young  and  innocent,  and 
how  the  spring  breeze  had  blown  the  hair  back  from  his 
moist  brow  and  stirred  the  papers  on  the  scarred  window- 
sill,  —  just  as  it  was  doing  now,  —  and  how  a  startled  fly 
had  buzzed  across  the  window  in  the  same  way,  too.  It 

* A  school  for  the  clergy.  —  TR. 


RESURRECTION  261 

was  not  simply  remembering  himself  as  the  lad  of  eigh 
teen;  he  actually  felt  the  freshness,  the  purity,  and  all  the 
aspirations  of  his  youth;  the  great  possibilities  of  the 
future  rose  before  him,  and  yet  he  was  like  one  in  a  dream, 
who  knows  his  visions  are  unreal,  and  it  made  him  very 
sad. 

"  When  would  you  like  to  have*  your  meal  served  ?" 
asked  the  steward,  with  a  smile. 

"Oh,  any  time;  I  am  not  hungry.  I  am  going  to  the 
village  now." 

"Would  you  not  like  to  go  over  the  house?  I  keep 
everything  in  good  order  inside,  though  outside  it  does 
look  .  .  .  Please  come  in!" 

"Not  now.  I  wonder  if  you  know  of  any  woman 
here  called  Matrena  Harina?"  (This  was  Katusha's 
aunt.) 

"Oh,  yes,  I  know  her.  I  can  do  nothing  with  her. 
She  keeps  an  unlicensed  pot-house.  I  know  it  perfectly 
well,  and  I've  told  her  so,  over  and  over  again,  and  scolded 
her  too,  but  I  can't  make  up  my  mind  to  have  her  arrested; 
she  is  an  old  woman,  you  know,  has  grandchildren,  and 
I  pity  her,"  said  the  steward,  with  his  regulation  smile, 
which  seemed  to  say,  "  I  should  like  to  please  you,  because 
you're  the  master,  but  you  know  how  it  is  yourself,  just 
as  well  as  I  do." 

"Where  does  she  live?    I  should  like  to  see  her." 

"  At  the  end  of  the  street,  the  last  hut  but  two.  There 
is  a  brick  one  on  the  left,  and  her  hut  is  put  behind  that 
one.  Let  me  show  you  the  way,"  said  the  steward,  with 
a  cheerful  smile. 

"No,  thank  you;  I  can  easily  find  it.  And  while  I  am 
gone  will  you  please  call  a  meeting  of  the  peasants?  I 
wish  to  speak  to  them  in  regard  to  the  land,"  said  NekhM- 
dof,  meaning  to  make  the  same  sort  of  contract  with  these 
peasants  as  with  those  at  Kuzminskoe  and  if  possible  to 
accomplish  the  business  that  very  evening. 


262  RESURRECTION 


IV. 

As  NekhMdof  passed  through  the  gate  and  followed 
the  hard-trodden  path  across  the  pasture,  overgrown  with 
dock  and  plantain,  he  met  the  same  stout-limbed,  bare 
footed  peasant  girl  with  the  checked  apron  and  large 
earrings.  She  was  walking  very  fast,  evidently  on  her 
way  home,  swinging  her  left  arm  vigorously  backward 
and  forward;  with  her  right  arm  she  held  a  red  rooster 
pressed  tightly  against  her  stomach.  The  cock  didn't 
seem  to  be  much  disturbed,  though  his  red  comb  quivered 
and  his  eyes  rolled  from  side  to  side,  and  occasionally  he 
would  thrust  out  one  black  claw  and  make  a  futile  clutch 
at  the  girl's  apron.  As  she  drew  near  the  master,  her 
pace  slackened,  changing  from  a  run  to  a  walk. 

When  she  was  abreast  of  him,  she  paused  to  salute  him 
with  a  quick  backward  jerk  of  the  head  and  then  walked 
on.  As  Nekhludof  went  down  towards  the  well,  he  met 
an  old  woman  in  a  dirty,  unbleached  linen  chemise, 
carrying  two  heavy  pails  of  water  slung  across  her  bowed 
shoulders.  The  old  woman  carefully  set  the  pails  on  the 
ground,  and  then  she  too  bowed  to  him  with  just  the  same 
backward  jerk  of  the  head.  Just  beyond  the  well  was 
the  beginning  of  the  village. 

It  was  a  bright  sunny  day.  Rising  clouds  now  and 
then  obscured  the  sun,  but  even  at  ten  o'clock  the  heat 
was  already  excessive.  A  pungent  and  unpleasant  odor 
of  manure  was  borne  along  the  street.  It  came  partly 
from  the  carts  which  were  rumbling  over  the  smooth  and 
shining  hillside  road,  but  principally  from  the  manure 
heaps  lately  forked  over  in  the  yards,  whose  open  gates 
NekhMdof  had  passed  as  he  came  along.  The  peasants 
who  walked  bare-footed  beside  the  carts,  their  shirts  and 
drawers  smeared  with  manure,  turned  back  to  stare  at  the 
tall,  stout  master,  with  the  gray  hat  and  silken  hat-band 
shining  in  the  sun,  who  was  walking  up  the  village  street, 


RESURRECTION  263 

touching  the  ground  at  every  step  with  a  shiny,  silver- 
headed  cane.  The  peasants  returning  from  the  field, 
jogging  along  on  their  empty  carts,  took  off  their  hats,  and 
gazed  with  astonishment  at  this  unusual-looking  person 
age  who  was  walking  along  their  street.  Women  came 
out  of  their  gates  or  stood  on  their  porches,  calling  out  to 
one  another  to  "look"  at  him,  and  following  him  with 
their  eyes  as  he  passed  by. 

When  Nekhludof  reached  the  fourth  gate,  he  had  to 
wait  for  a  cart  that  was  just  driving  out  of  the  yard.  Its 
wheels  creaked  under  the  weight  of  a  heavy  load  of 
manure  piled  high.  A  mat  lying  on  the  top  of  it  served 
for  a  seat.  A  six-year-old  boy,  excited  by  the  anticipation 
of  a  ride,  followed  the  load.  A  young  peasant  striding 
along  in  his  bast  shoes  was  leading  the  horse  out  of  the 
yard.  A  long-legged  colt,  of  a  bluish  gray  color,  jumped 
out  of  the  gate,  but  startled  at  the  sight  of  Nekhludof, 
pressed  close  to  the  cart,  and  scraping  his  legs  against  the 
wheels  slipped  through  ahead  of  the  mother,  who  as  she 
drew  the  heavy  load  through  the  gate  showed  her  uneasi 
ness  by  a  faint  neighing. 

A  bare-footed  old  man  led  the  next  horse.  He  was  thin 
and  active,  with  protruding  shoulder-blades,  and  he  wore 
striped  drawers  and  a  long,  dirty  shirt.  When  the  horses 
reached  the  hard-traveled  road,  strewn  with  bits  of  ash- 
colored  manure,  the  old  man  went  back  and  saluted 
Nekhludof. 

"You're  our  ladies'  nephew,  ain't  you?" 

"Yes,  I  am." 

"  You're  kindly  welcome.  And  you've  come  to  see  how 
we're  getting  along?"  asked  the  talkative  old  man. 

"Precisely.  .  .  .  And  how  are  you  getting  on  ?"  asked 
Nekhliidof,  not  knowing  what  else  to  say. 

"  We  ain't  getting  on  at  all!  It's  a  hard  life,"  drawled 
the  old  man,  as  though  it  gave  him  pleasure. 

"Why  is  it  hard?"  asked  Nekhludof,  entering  the 
gate. 


264  RESURRECTION 

"You  can  hardly  call  it  living,"  said  the  old  man,  fol 
lowing  Nekhliidof  to  the  open  space  under  the  overhang 
ing  roof;  here  they  stopped. 

"  I  have  twelve  mouths  to  feed,"  continued  the  old  man, 
pointing  towards  a  couple  of  women  who  stood  perspiring 
over  the  last  dunghill.  Their  kerchiefs  were  awry,  their 
skirts  tucked  up,  their  naked  legs  soiled  with  manure, 
and  there  they  stood  with  forks  in  their  hands,  resting  a 
moment.  "  Every  month  I  have  to  buy  six  poods  of  meal, 
and  how  am  I  to  pay  for  it  ?" 

" Doesn't  your  own  hold  out?" 

"My  own?"  said  the  old  man,  with  a  smile  of  con 
tempt.  "  I  have  only  land  enough  for  three,  and  last  fall 
we  gathered  but  eight  hills,  which  gave  out  before  Christ 
mas." 

"What  do  you  do,  then?" 

"  Oh,  we  get  along  somehow.  I  hired  one  man  out  as  a 
laborer,  and  then  I  borrowed  a  little  of  your  Honor.  We 
got  it  before  Lent,  and  the  taxes  are  not  paid  yet.". 

"  How  much  do  you  pay  ?" 

"We  pay  seventeen  roubles  every  three  months.  Oh, 
I  tell  you  our  life  is  hard.  Sometimes  I  wonder  myself 
how  we  do  manage." 

"May  I  come  into  your  hut?"  asked  Nekhliidof,  walk 
ing  across  the  yard  from  the  open  space,  stepping  over  the 
ill-smelling,  saffron-colored  heaps  of  manure  that  had 
been  raked  up  here  and  there. 

"Of  course  you  may  come  in!"  said  the  old  man. 
Going  on  ahead  of  Nekhludof,  with  his  brisk  and  active 
step,  and  walking  on  the  soft  manure,  that  oozed  be 
tween  his  toes,  he  opened  the  door  of  the  hut.  The 
women  straightened  their  kerchiefs,  and  letting  down 
their  skirts  looked  at  the  clean  master  with  the  gold  links 
in  his  cuffs,  who  was  entering  their  house. 

Two  little  girls,  with  nothing  on  but  chemises,  rushed 
past  him.  Taking  off  his  hat,  and  stooping  low,  he 
managed  to  make  his  way  into  the  passage  and  thence 


RESURRECTION  265 

into  a  dirty  little  room  where  most  of  the  space  was  taken 
up  by  two  hand  looms  and  the  air  was  redolent  of  sour 
food.  An  old  woman,  with  her  sleeves  rolled  up  over  her 
thin,  sunburnt,  and  sinewy  arms,  stood  near  the  oven. 

"This  is  our  master  come  to  see  us,"  said  the  old  man. 

"He  is  welcome,"  replied  the  old  woman,  civilly,  as  she 
pulled  down  her  sleeves. 

"I  wanted  to  see  how  you  lived,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"  We  live  just  as  you  see  us.  The  hut  is  almost  falling 
down;  I  suppose  it  will  kill  us  some  day.  The  old  man 
says  we  are  lucky  to  get  it,  so  we  ought  to  be  as  happy  as 
kings,"  said  the  lively  old  woman,  nervously  jerking  her 
head.  "  I  am  getting  the  dinner  ready  now,  to  feed  our 
men." 

"And  what  will  you  have  to  eat?" 

"  What  shall  we  have  to  eat  ?  Fine  food !  First  course : 
bread  and  kvas,1  second  course,  kvas  and  bread,"  said  the 
old  woman,  with  a  laugh  that  revealed  her  partly  decayed 
teeth. 

"No,  I  am  in  earnest;  please  show  me  what  you  are 
going  to  eat  to-day." 

"Eat?"  repeated  the  old  man,  laughing.  "It'll  not 
take  long  to  show  it.  Let  him  look  at  it,  old  woman!" 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  So  you  want  to  see  our  peasant  fare  ?  Well,  you  are 
looking  into  things,  I  must  say!  You  want  to  know 
everything  that's  to  be  known.  Is  that  the  sort  you  are  ? 
I  told  you  we  have  bread  and  kvas  and  stchi2  made  out 
of  fish;  some  women  brought  it  to  us  last  night;  that's  the 
kind  of  stchi  we  have;  and  then  a  few  potatoes." 

"Is  that  all  you  have?" 

"What  else  could  you  have  ?  We'll  top  off  with  milk," 
said  the  woman,  glancing  towards  the  door,  with  a  shrewd 
wink. 

It  stood  open  and  the  passage  was  crowded  with  people, 

1 A  beverage  made  of  rye-bread  and  malt.  *  Cabbage-soup. 


266  RESURRECTION 

small  children,  little  girls,  women  with  nursing  babies  in 
their  arms;  all  trying  to  get  as  near  the  door  as  possible, 
to  stare  at  this  remarkable  and  eccentric  man,  who  was 
investigating  the  peasant  fare.  The  old  woman  seemed 
to  think  she  knew  how  to  talk  to  a  gentleman;  she  was 
quite  proud  of  herself. 

"  Yes,  master,  there's  no  doubt  about  it,  we  have  a  hard 
life.  .  .  .  Here,  you  get  out  of  this!"  shouted  the  old 
man  to  the  women  and  children  in  the  door. 

"Well,  good-by,"  said  Nekhludof;  he  knew  he  was  in 
an  awkward  position,  and  he  was  dimly  conscious  of  a 
sense  of  mortification. 

"  It  was  good  of  you  to  come  and  see  us,  and  we  thank 
you  kindly,  master,"  said  the  old  man. 

The  peasants  who  were  still  in  the  passageway  hugged 
the  wall  to  let  Nekhludof  pass  out  into  the  street.  As  he 
walked  along,  two  bare-footed  boys  followed  him.  The 
older  of  the  two  wore  a  shirt  that  had  been  white  once 
upon  a  time ;  and  the  younger  boy's  was  pink,  quite  faded 
now,  and  worn. 

Nekhludof  turned  his  head  and  saw  them. 

"Where  are  you  going  now?"  asked  the  boy  in  the 
white  shirt. 

"To  Matrena  H&rina's;  do  you  know  her?"  inquired 
Nekhludof. 

The  little  boy  in  the  pink  shirt  began  to  laugh;  but  the 
older  boy  asked  in  a  very  serious  tone  of  voice : 

"Which  Matrena  do  you  mean?  Is  she  an  old 
woman  ?" 

"Yes." 

"Aha!"  he  drawled.  "He  means  Semdnikha!  That's 
at  the  end  of  the  village.  We'll  go  with  you.  Won't  we, 
F&lka?" 

"  What'll  we  do  about  the  horses?" 

"Oh,  never  mind  about  them!" 

Fe*dka  agreed,  and  the  three  walked  up  the  village 
street  together. 


RESURRECTION  267 


V. 

NEKHL(JDOF  felt  more  at  ease  with  these  boys  than  with 
the  older  folk,  and  he  talked  to  them  as  they  went  along. 

The  younger,  in  the  pink  shirt,  stopped  laughing  and 
talked  as  cleverly  and  sensibly  as  the  older  one. 

"Who  are  the  poorest  families  in  your  village?'* 
Nekhludof  inquired. 

"Who?  Michael  is  poor,  and  Simon  Makdrof  and 
Marfa,  she's  very  poor  too." 

"Anfeya  is  poorer  than  any  of  them.  She  hasn't  even 
got  a  cow.  They  have  to  beg  for  their  living,"  said  little 
F&Lka. 

"I  know  she  hasn't  got  a  cow,  but  she  has  only  three 
to  feed,  and  Marfa  has  five,  counting  in  herself,"  objected 
the  elder  boy. 

"Yes,  but  the  other  is  a  widow,"  said  Anfsya's  small 
advocate. 

"  You  call  Anisya  a  widow,  but  Marfa  is  just  the  same 
as  a  widow.  She  hasn't  got  any  husband,"  continued  the 
older  boy. 

"Where  is  her  husband?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"  Oh,  feeding  vermin  in  prison,"  said  the  older  boy;  he 
used  the  expression  common  among  the  peasants. 

"  He  cut  down  a  couple  of  birch  trees  in  the  forest,  so 
they  shut  him  up,  because  the  forest  belongs  to  the  gentry, 
you  know,"  the  little  boy  in  the  pink  shirt  made  haste  to 
explain,  adding  by  way  of  detail,  "He's  been  there  six 
months  now,  and  his  wife  has  to  go  begging;  they  have 
three  children  and  an  old  grandmother." 

"Where  does  she  live?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"Right  over  there;  that's  her  home,"  said  the  boy, 
pointing  to  a  hut  opposite  which,  on  the  very  path  that 
Nekhludof  was  following,  stood  a  tiny  child;  its  hair  was 
the  color  of  tow,  and  its  little  legs  were  so  bowed  it  could 
hardly  balance  itself  on  its  feet. 


268  RESURRECTION 

" V&ska,  what's  become  of  you,  little  scamp?"  A  wo 
man  in  a  dirty  gray  chemise  that  looked  as  if  it  had  been 
rolled  in  ashes,  rushed  out  in  front  of  NekhMdof,  seized 
the  boy,  and  ran  back  into  the  hut  with  him.  She  looked 
as  frightened  as  if  she  had  expected  Nekhliidof  to  do  the 
child  some  bodily  harm.  It  was  the  woman  whose  hus 
band  was  in  jail  for  cutting  down  Nekhludof's  birches. 

"And  is  this  Matrena  poor?"  asked  Nekhludof,  as  they 
approached  Matrena's  hut. 

"Oh,  no,  indeed!  she  isn't  poor;  she  sells  liquor," 
replied  the  slender  boy  in  the  pink  shirt.  His  tone  was 
most  emphatic. 

When  they  came  to  Matrena's  hut,  Nekhludof  left  the 
boys  outside  and,  stepping  into  the  entry,  passed  through 
into  the  hut.  Matrena's  hut  was  only  six  arshines  long, 
and  the  bed  which  stood  back  of  the  birch  oven  would 
have  been  too  short  for  a  tall  man  to  stretch  out  in. 
"  I  suppose  that  is  the  very  bed  in  which  Katiisha's  baby 
was  born,  and  where  she  was  so  ill  afterwards,"  he  thought 
to  himself.  The  loom  occupied  most  of  the  room.  The 
old  woman  and  her  oldest  granddaughter  were  getting 
ready  to  begin  weaving,  when  Nekhludof,  hitting  his  head 
against  the  lintel,  came  in  through  the  low  doorway.  Two 
other  grandchildren  followed  Nekhludof  into  the  room 
and  stopped  at  the  door,  holding  on  by  the  door-post. 

"Whom  do  you  wish  to  see?"  asked  the  old  woman; 
she  was  as  cross  as  she  could  be,  for  her  loom  had  been 
bothering  her.  Besides,  a  person  who  sells  liquor  on  the 
sly  always  dreads  the  sight  of  a  stranger. 

"I  am  the  landlord.     I  should  like  to  speak  to  you." 

The  old  woman  made  no  reply,  looking  at  him  intently; 
then  all  at  once  she  seemed  transformed. 

"Why,  is  that  you,  dear  heart!  And  what  an  old  fool 
I  am!  I  thought  it  was  some  stranger,"  she  said  in  a 
dulcet  voice  obviously  artificial.  "My  blessed  lamb!" 
she  exclaimed. 

"  I  would  like  to  see  you  alone,"  said  Nekhliidof,  glanc- 


RESURRECTION  269 

ing  at  the  open  door  where  the  children  were  standing, 
and  beyond  them  an  emaciated  woman  with  a  baby  in  her 
arms.  The  child  was  smiling  a  sickly  sort  of  smile;  on 
its  little  head  was  a  cloth  cap  made  up  of  all  sorts  of 
queer  bits. 

"What  do  you  want  here?  I'll  give  it  to  you!  You 
just  hand  me  my  crutch,  will  you!"  she  shouted  to  those 
who  stood  in  the  doorway.  "  Come,  shut  that  door,"  she 
added. 

The  children  ran  off,  and  the  woman  with  the  baby 
closed  the  door. 

"  Thinks  I  to  myself,  I'd  like  to  know  who  that  can  be  ? 
And  it's  the  master  himself,  my  precious,  my  beauty,  my 
darling!  That  ever  he  should  deign  to  come  here!  My 
jewel!"  said  the  old  woman.  " Sit  here,  your  Excellency, 
here  on  the  window  seat,"  she  said,  wiping  off  the  window- 
sill  with  her  apron.  "  And  thinks  I  to  myself,  who  in  the 
deuce  is  coming  in  here!  And  it's  his  Excellency,  the 
master,  our  benefactor,  our  bread-winner!  Forgive  the 
old  fool!  She's  grown  blind!" 

Nekhliidof  took  a  seat,  but  the  old  woman  continued  to 
stand  in  front  of  him.  Leaning  her  cheek  on  her  right 
hand  and  supporting  her  elbow  with  the  left,  she  went  on 
speaking  in  a  sing-song  voice. 

"  How  your  Excellency  has  aged !  Why,  you  used  to  be 
as  pretty  as  a  pink;  nothing  like  what  you  are  now  I 
Must  be  you  have  your  cares!" 

"I  have  come  to  ask  you  if  you  remember  Katiisha 
Mdsiova  ?" 

"  Katerina  ?  Of  course  I  remember  Katerina.  She's 
my  own  niece.  No,  indeed  I'm  not  likely  to  forget  her, 
after  all  the  tears  I've  shed  for  her.  Why,  I  knew  all 
about  it,  at  the  time.  But  where'll  you  look  for  the  man 
who  has  not  sinned  before  God,  who  hasn't  offended  the 
Czar!  You  were  both  young  in  those  days;  you  used  to 
come  in  and  drink  tea  and  coffee  together  and  the  devil 
got  the  upper  hand.  He's  a  strong  one,  I  tell  you !  Then 


270  RESURRECTION 

came  the  sin.  How  could  you  help  it?  But  you  did 
your  part  honest  and  fair,  you  gave  her  a  hundred  roubles. 
It  wasn't  as  if  you'd  neglected  her!  And  what  did  she 
do?  She  wouldn't  listen  to  reason;  if  she'd  minded  me, 
it  would  have  been  all  right.  I  got  a  fine  place  for  her, 
but  she  was  high  and  mighty  with  the  master.  Is  it 
for  the  likes  of  us  to  put  on  airs  ?  Of  course  she  lost  that 
place.  Then  she  might  have  lived  with  the  forester,  but 
no,  you  couldn't  do  a  thing  with  the  girl !  Such  notions !" 

"I  wanted  to  ask  you  about  the  child.  She  was  con 
fined  here,  was  she  not  ?  Can  you  tell  me  where  the  child 
is?" 

"  Oh,  my  dear  master,  I  had  to  arrange  everything  at 
that  time.  She  was  very  ill,  and  I  hardly  expected  she'd 
get  up  again.  I  had  the  baby  christened  and  carried  it  to 
the  Foundling  Asylum.  Why  should  a  little  angel  be  left 
to  suffer  because  the  mother  is  dying  ?  I  know  plenty  of 
them  just  leave  the  baby  alone,  and  never  think  of  feeding 
it,  and  so  it  just  dies;  but  I  thought  it  was  better  to  take 
a  little  care  of  it,  and  I  sent  it  to  the  Foundling  Asylum. 
We  had  the  money  to  do  it,  so  we  sent  it  away." 

"And  did  you  get  the  registration  number?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  we  got  the  number,  safe  enough,  but  the  baby 
died  right  away.  She  said  she'd  hardly  taken  it  to  the 
Asylum  before  it  died." 

"Who  is  she?" 

"The  woman  who  used  to  live  in  Skorddnoe.  She 
carried  on  that  kind  of  business.  Her  name  was  Maldnya ; 
she  is  dead  now.  She  was  a  clever  woman,  and  this  is 
how  she  used  to  work  it.  Whenever  a  baby  was  brought 
to  her,  she'd  keep  it  for  a  while  and  feed  it;  and  after  she'd 
collected  three  or  four  of  the  little  things,  you  see,  dearie, 
she'd  tote  them  off  to  the  Foundling  Asylum.  She  had  a 
big  cradle,  like  a  small  double-bed;  it  was  so  broad  she 
could  put  the  babies  in,  three  or  four  together.  There 
was  a  handle  attached  to  it.  She'd  put  four  of  them  heads 
and  feet  apart,  so  that  they  couldn't  knock  against  each 


RESURRECTION  271 

other,  and  in  this  way  she'd  carry  four  at  the  same  time. 
She'd  give  them  paps  and  so  keep  the  darlings  still!" 

"  Well,  goon." 

"  Well,  she  took  Katerina's  baby,  too,  and  I  believe  she 
kept  it  for  two  weeks.  It  was  taken  sick  at  her  house." 

"Was  it  a  healthy  child?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"A  splendid  baby  I  I  don't  know  where  you'd  find  a 
better.  The  image  of  its  father,"  she  said  with  a  wink. 

"Then  why  did  it  sicken?     I  suppose  she  starved  it?" 

"Yes,  miserable  food;  just  a  makeshift;  what  you 
might  expect;  the  child  was  none  of  hers.  All  such  wo 
men  care  for,  is  to  get  the  babies  to  the  Asylum  before 
they  are  actually  dead.  She  said  it  died  just  as  they 
reached  Moscow.  She  brought  back  the  death  certificate 
all  right.  Oh,  she  was  a  bright  one!" 

And  this  was  all  that  Nekhludof  could  find  out  in  regard 
to  his  child. 


VI. 


NEKHLUDOF  banged  his  head  against  the  lintel  once 
more  before  he  reached  the  street,  where  he  found  the 
boys  in  the  pink  and  white  shirts  still  waiting  for  him. 
He  also  noticed  that  several  recruits  had  been  added  to  the 
group.  A  few  women  were  standing  around  with  nursing 
babies  in  their  arms,  and  among  these  he  recognized  the 
emaciated  woman,  who  held  her  bloodless  infant  with  its 
patchwork  cap,  as  if  it  were  no  more  than  a  feather's 
weight.  There  was  a  strange  expression  on  its  little 
wizened  face;  it  looked  like  a  smile,  but  Nekhludof  knew 
that  it  was  pain  that  caused  it.  Its  crooked  toes  were  in 
perpetual  motion.  He  asked  who  the  woman  was. 

"Why,  that's  Anisya,  the  one  we  told  you  about,"  said 
the  older  boy. 

"  How  are  you  getting  on  ?  What  supports  you  ?"  he 
asked  her. 


272  RESURRECTION 

"How  am  I  getting  on?  Oh,  I  have  to  go  begging," 
said  Anfeya,  and  then  she  began  to  cry. 

The  ancient  baby,  ever  smiling,  kept  wriggling  its 
skinny,  wormlike  legs. 

Nekhliidof  took  out  his  pocket-book  and  gave  the  wo 
man  ten  roubles.  He  had  hardly  taken  as  many  steps, 
before  another  woman  with  a  baby  overtook  him,  and  then 
an  old  woman,  with  still  another  behind  her.  All  spoke 
of  their  poverty  and  asked  him  to  help  them.  He  divided 
sixty  roubles  among  them,  all  he  had  with  him — and 
hurried  back  to  the  steward's  house,  feeling  terribly  de 
pressed. 

The  steward  met  him  with  a  smile  and  told  him  that 
the  peasants  would  assemble  that  evening.  Nekhliidof 
thanked  him;  he  turned  away  from  the  house  and  went 
into  the  garden. 

As  he  paced  up  and  down  the  neglected  paths,  now 
carpeted  with  the  petals  of  falling  apple-blossoms,  he 
pondered  upon  all  that  he  had  seen.  At  first  the  silence 
was  unbroken,  but  presently  the  sound  of  voices  reached 
Nekhliidof's  ear. 

It  came  from  the  steward's  house:  the  angry  voices 
of  two  women  who  were  talking  simultaneously  or  inter 
rupting  each  other,  with  the  calm  voice  of  the  ever  smiling 
steward  breaking  in  from  time  to  time.  Nekhliidof 
listened. 

"I  am  sick  of  it  all!  I  believe  you'd  take  the  very 
cross  off  my  neck!"  cried  a  woman's  voice,  in  accents 
of  fury. 

"Why,  she  barely  got  in,"  said  another  voice.  "Do 
give  her  back.  It's  only  tormenting  the  poor  beast  and 
making  the  children  go  without  their  milk!" 

"  Take  your  choice,  then.  Pay  the  money  or  work  out 
the  fine!"  replied  the  calm  voice  of  the  steward. 

Nekhliidof  left  the  garden  and  walked  up  to  the  porch, 
where  stood  two  disheveled  women,  one  of  whom  was 
about  to  become  a  mother.  On  the  steps  of  the  porch, 


RESURRECTION  273 

with  his  hands  in  the  pockets  of  his  linen  coat,  stood  the 
steward.  When  the  women  recognized  the  master,  they 
stopped  talking  and  began  to  rearrange  their  kerchiefs, 
while  the  steward  drew  his  hands  out  of  his  pockets  and 
began  to  smile. 

It  was  the  old  story,  the  steward  explained;  the  peasants 
always  had,  and  always  would,  turn  their  calves  and  even 
their  cows  into  the  master's  meadow  to  graze.  Two  cows 
belonging  to  these  two  women  had  been  caught  there  and 
were  now  shut  up.  The  steward  demanded  thirty  copecks 
from  each  woman  or  two  days'  work.  The  women  main 
tained,  in  the  first  place,  that  then:  cows  had  only  strayed 
into  the  meadow  by  accident,  and  in  the  second  place,  that 
they  hadn't  a  copeck  in  the  world;  finally  they  demanded 
—  even  if  they  had  to  promise  to  work  out  the  fine  later 
on,  that  their  cows,  which  had  been  standing  in  the  hot 
sun  ever  since  morning  without  food,  and  were  lowing 
piteously,  should  be  returned  to  them  forthwith. 

"How  often  have  I  said  to  them  pleasantly,  'If  you 
drive  your  cattle  home  during  your  dinner  hour,  look  out 
for  them.'  I've  said  it  over  and  over  again,"  repeated  the 
smiling  steward,  appealing  to  Nekhliidof  as  if  he  had  been 
witness  to  the  fact. 

"I  left  them  just  for  a  moment  to  look  after  the 
little  fellow,  and  they  strayed  away." 

"But  you  shouldn't  leave,  when  it's  your  business  to 
watch  the  cows." 

"And  who's  going  to  feed  the  child?  Tell  me  that. 
Will  you  do  it  ?"  asked  one  of  the  women. 

"If  she'd  really  done  much  damage,  I  should  be 
sorry;  but  she  just  for  a  minute  strayed  in,"  said  the 
other. 

"They  are  ruining  the  meadows,  and  if  they  are  not 
fined,  there  won't  be  any  hay,"  said  the  steward  to 
Nekhliidof. 

"Well,  if  you're  going  to  sin  like  that!  My  cows  were 
never  caught  before!"  shouted  the  pregnant  woman. 

VOL.   I.— 18 


274  RESURRECTION 

"Well,  they  are  caught  now,  and  you've  either  got  to 
pay  the  fine  or  work  it  out." 

"Well,  I'll  work  it  out,  then!  Don't  keep  the  cow 
there  starving,  let  her  go!"  she  exclaimed  angrily.  "I 
have  no  peace  by  night  or  by  day.  My  mother-in-law  is 
sick,  my  husband  is  always  drunk.  I  have  to  do  every 
thing  myself,  and  where  the  strength's  coming  from,  I 
don't  know!  I  wish  the  work  you  screw  out  of  me  would 
choke  you!" 

Nekhliidof  asked  the  steward  to  release  the  cows,  and 
went  back  to  the  garden  to  be  alone  with  his  thoughts; 
but  now  there  was  nothing  to  think  about. 

At  this  moment  everything  seemed  so  clear  to  him 
that  he  could  never  cease  wondering  why  others  couldn't 
see  it,  too.  It  was  true  that  there  had  been  a  time  when 
he  couldn't  even  dimly  discern  what  he  now  saw  so 
vividly.  The  people  are  dying  out;  and  they  have  really 
become  so  accustomed  to  the  perishing  process,  that  they 
have  unconsciously  come  to  accept  as  inevitable  the  un 
timely  deaths  of  the  children,  the  overwork  of  the  women, 
and  the  insufficient  nourishment,  particularly  for  the  old 
people.  And  this  state  of  affairs  has  been  of  a  growth  so 
gradual,  that  the  peasants  have  not  realized  the  full  horror 
of  it,  neither  have  they  lifted  up  their  voices  to  complain. 
And  for  the  same  reasons  we  too  have  looked  upon  the 
situation  as  the  normal  one.  But  now  he  saw  it  plainly 
enough.  It  was  just  as  the  people  had  always  said,  the 
landowners  were  responsible  for  their  poverty,  —  those 
landowners  who  had  deprived  them  of  the  land  which  was 
their  sole  means  of  support. 

Nobody  could  deny  that  infants  and  old  people  died  for 
want  of  milk;  the  reason  they  had  no  milk  was  because 
they  had  no  pastures  for  their  cattle,  no  land  for  raising 
bread-stuffs,  no  hay-fields.  It  is  perfectly  plain  that  all 
the  people's  misery,  or  at  least  the  greater  part  of  it,  arises 
from  the  fact  that  they  do  not  own  the  land  which  ought 
to  support  them,  this  same  land  being  in  the  hands  of  men 


RESURRECTION  275 

who  take  advantage  of  their  ownership  to  exact  the  utmost 
amount  of  labor  from  the  tillers  of  the  soil.  The  peasants, 
reduced  to  the  depths  of  poverty,  actually  dying  for  want 
of  enough  land  to  support  them,  go  on  toiling  in  order 
that  the  landowners  may  have  crops  to  sell  in  foreign 
lands,  and  buy  all  the  hats  and  canes,  carriages  and 
bronzes,  that  their  hearts  desire. 

If  a  horse  is  shut  up  in  a  pasture  until  he  has  eaten 
every  blade  of  grass  under  his  feet,  he  will  sooner  or  later 
starve  to  death,  unless  he  is  removed  to  another  pasture. 
The  peasants  will  starve  to  death  unless  they  have  the 
use  of  land  enough  to  support  them.  The  former  fact  is 
no  more  patent  than  the  latter.  A  terrible  state  of  affairs, 
and  one  that  must  not  be  allowed  to  continue.  Some 
means  should  surely  be  found  to  remedy  the  evil;  at  all 
events  he  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  it.  "  And 
I  shall  certainly  find  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty,"  he 
thought  as  he  walked  to  and  fro  in  the  birch-walk  near 
the  house. 

In  Scientific  Societies,  government  institutions,  and  in 
the  newspapers  we  are  always  discussing  the  causes  of 
poverty  and  the  means  for  its  amelioration,  but  we  neglect 
the  only  sure  remedy  for  the  uplifting  of  the  masses,  which 
is  to  return  to  them  the  land  which  has  been  taken  from 
them  and  which  they  so  much  need.  Here  he  vividly 
recalled  the  fundamental  principles  of  Henry  George  and 
his  own  former  enthusiasm  over  them,  and  wondered  how 
he  could  have  forgotten  all  that.  "  Land  ought  not  to  be 
subject  to  private  ownership  any  more  than  water,  sun, 
or  air.  Every  man  has  a  common  right  to  the  land  and 
its  privileges." 

Now  he  understood  why  he  had  felt  ashamed  of  the 
business  arrangement  he  had  made  at  Kuzminskoe.  He 
had  unconsciously  deceived  himself,  though  he  knew  that 
he  had  no  right  to  the  land;  he  implied  that  he  had  such 
a  right,  when  he  made  a  gift  to  the  peasants  of  a  certain 
share  in  land  to  which,  in  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  he  knew 


276  RESURRECTION 

he  had  no  right.  He  would  not  repeat  here  what  he  had 
done  at  Kuzminskoe,  and  in  his  mind  he  sketched  a  plan 
for  renting  the  land  to  the  peasants  and  from  the  moneys 
received,  establishing  a  fund  which  was  to  be  used  for 
then*  own  benefit  on  condition  that  they  pay  from  this 
fund  their  own  taxes  and  other  public  needs.  It  was  not 
the  Single  Tax  System,  but  the  nearest  approach  to  it 
that  would  be  practicable  under  existing  circumstances. 
The  main  thing  was  that  he  renounced  his  right  to  hold 
land  property  for  a  personal  benefit. 

When  he  returned  to  the  house,  he  found  the  steward  in 
a  cheerful  frame  of  mind.  The  dinner  was  ready  for  serv 
ing,  he  said,  but  he  was  afraid  that  the  food  that  his  wife, 
with  the  help  of  the  servant  girl  with  the  earrings,  had 
prepared,  might  be  overdone. 

The  table  was  covered  with  an  unbleached  cloth.  An 
embroidered  towel  served  for  a  napkin,  and  on  the  table 
stood  an  old  Saxon-ware  tureen  with  a  broken  handle 
filled  with  potato  soup,  in  which  floated  fragments  of  the 
very  same  rooster  whose  struggles  he  had  lately  watched, 
chopped  into  small  bits,  still  covered  with  feathers.  The 
rooster  in  person,  with  his  feathers  thoroughly  roasted, 
appeared  in  the  next  course,  which  was  followed  by  dump 
lings  with  cream-cheese  filling,  lavishly  sprinkled  with 
sugar  and  deluged  with  melted  butter. 

This  unpalatable  fare  seemed  to  make  no  impression 
whatever  upon  Nekhludof .  He  was  completely  absorbed 
in  certain  thoughts  which  had  already  dispelled  the 
melancholy  created  by  his  visit  to  the  village.  The 
steward's  wife  now  and  then  looked  in  at  the  door  and 
watched  the  frightened  maid,  with  the  rings  in  her  ears, 
carry  in  the  dishes,  while  the  steward  himself,  proud 
of  his  wife's  skill,  grinned  from  ear  to  ear. 

After  dinner,  having  insisted  that  the  steward  should 
take  a  seat,  Nekhludof  began  to  unfold  his  plans  in  regard 
to  the  peasants.  This  he  did  partly  for  the  purpose  of 
verifying  the  thoughts  that  absorbed  him  and  partly  to 


RESURRECTION  277 

discover  the  impression  that  his  scheme  would  make  on 
another  mind.  When  he  asked  the  steward  what  he 
thought  of  endowing  the  peasants  with  land,  the  latter 
pretended  that  the  very  same  idea  had  been  in  his  own 
mind  and  he  was  delighted  to  hear  it  expressed.  But  the 
truth  of  the  matter  was  that  he  had  not  the  vaguest  idea 
what  Nekhliidof  was  talking  about;  and  this  was  not 
because  the  language  of  the  latter  was  obscure,  but  the 
idea  of  any  man  giving  up  his  own  personal  gain  for  the 
benefit  of  others  was  absolutely  inconceivable  to  one 
whose  maxim  had  always  been  to  benefit  himself  by  in 
juring  other  men.  Therefore  he  took  it  for  granted  that 
he  must  have  misunderstood  Nekhludof  when  he  told 
him  that  all  the  income  from  the  estate  was  to  form  the 
common  capital  of  the  peasants. 

"And  the  income  from  this  capital  belongs  to  you  ?"  he 
asked.  "  Is  that  what  you  mean  ?" 

"Of  course  not.  Don't  you  understand  that  I  am 
giving  the  land  away?" 

"Then  you  will  have  no  income  at  all?"  asked  the 
steward,  and  the  smile  vanished  from  his  face. 

"Certainly  not,  I  am  renouncing  it." 

The  steward  heaved  a  sigh,  but  recollecting  himself  he 
began  to  smile  again.  It  was  plainly  to  be  seen  that 
Nekhludof's  mind  was  affected,  and  the  man  began  to 
turn  over  in  his  own  mind  some  scheme  by  which  he 
could  himself  make  use  of  this  land  that  was  to  be  given 
away;  but  when  he  realized  that  no  such  plan  was  practi 
cable,  he  felt  aggrieved,  lost  his  interest  in  the  affair,  and 
only  smiled  vaguely  to  please  his  master.  When  Nekhlu 
dof  realized  that  his  steward  did  not  understand  his  plan, 
he  simply  dismissed  him,  and  taking  a  seat  before  the 
scarred  and  ink-stained  table  began  to  sketch  his  project 
on  paper. 

The  sun  had  barely  set  behind  the  newly  budded  lime 
trees,  and  the  mosquitoes  swarmed  into  the  room  and 
stung  him.  When  he  finished  his  writing,  he  heard  the 


278  RESURRECTION 

lowing  of  the  cattle,  the  creaking  of  the  opening  gates,  and 
the  voices  of  the  peasants  as  they  assembled  for  the  meet 
ing.  He  told  the  steward  not  to  call  the  peasants  to  the 
office.  He  had  decided  to  go  to  the  village  and  meet 
them  where  they  were  gathering.  After  hurriedly 
swallowing  a  tumbler  of  tea  offered  him  by  the  stewardj 
he  started  to  walk  towards  the  village. 


RESURRECTION 

VOLUME  II. 


COPYMGHT,   1911, 

BY  THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  &  CO. 


RESURRECTION. 


BOOK  II.— Continued 


VII. 

As  Nekhludof  drew  near  the  Starosta's  house  in  front 
of  which  the  peasants  had  assembled,  the  noisy  talk  died 
down,  and  one  man  after  another  took  off  his  cap,  just  as 
those  at  Kuzminskoe  had  done.  These  men,  however, 
looked  far  more  wretched.  The  girls  and  the  married 
women  wore  earrings  in  their  ears.  Most  of  the  men  wore 
bark  shoes  and  kaftans,  but  some  were  bare-footed,  and 
wore  shirts, — just  as  they  had  come  from  their  work. 
Nekhludof  after  a  struggle  with  himself  began  to  speak; 
and  declared  that  he  meant  to  give  them  the  land.  They 
remained  silent  and  the  expression  of  their  faces  never 
changed. 

"My  reason  for  doing  this,"  said  Nekhludof,  and  his 
cheeks  flushed  as  he  spoke,  "is  because  I  believe  that 
every  man  has  a  right  to  use  the  land  for  himself." 

"That  is  true.  That's  a  fact,"  exclaimed  one  voice 
after  another  from  the  crowd. 

Nekhludof  went  on  to  tell  them  now  that  the  income 
from  the  land  ought  to  be  distributed  equally,  and  he 
proposed  that  the  peasants  should  take  the  land  and  pay 
a  certain  rent,  upon  which  they  themselves  were  to  agree, 
into  the  common  capital,  which  was  also  to  be  under  their 
own  control.  In  spite,  however,  of  occasional  exclama 
tions  of  approval  and  agreement,  the  faces  of  the  peasants 
grew  more  and  more  stern  and  the  eyes  which  had  been 

3 


4  RESURRECTION 

fixed  on  those  of  the  master  were  now  averted,  as  if  to 
spare  him  the  knowledge  that  his  double  dealing  had  been 
found  out.  Nobody  could  be  cheated  by  such  talk 
as  that. 

Nekhlddof  had  spoken  plainly  enough,  and  his  listeners 
were  fairly  intelligent  men;  but  the  very  same  reason 
that  had  influenced  his  steward  when  he  first  heard  his 
master  express  his  intentions  on  the  land  question  now 
prevailed  with  the  peasants.  They  certainly  believed 
that  every  man  naturally  seeks  his  own  advantage.  Had 
they  not  for  several  generations  seen  the  landed  proprietors 
always  seeking  their  own  profit  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
peasants?  Therefore,  when  the  proprietor  calls  them 
together  and  makes  this  strange  offer,  it  can  only  be  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  the  better  of  them  in  some  new 
fashion.  When  Nekhliidof  asked,  "How  much  rent  do 
you  feel  able  to  pay  ?"  a  voice  from  the  crowd  called  out, 
"Why  should  we  pay  rent?  We  can't  do  that;  the  land 
belongs  to  you  and  so  does  the  authority. " 

"But  you  will  use  the  money  for  your  own  benefit.'* 

"We  never  could  do  that.  This  is  a  different  thing 
from  a  commune." 

"  But  listen,"  said  the  smiling  steward  who  had  followed 
Nekhludof,  hoping  to  make  the  business  clear  to  them, 
"the  Prince  is  giving  you  the  land  in  return  for  money 
which  will  be  added  to  your  capital  and  this  is  to  be  used 
by  the  communal  society." 

"  Oh,  we  understand  all  right,"  answered  a  toothless, 
cross-grained  old  man  who  never  raised  his  eyes.  "  It  is 
just  like  putting  money  in  a  bank,  but  we  must  always 
pay  at  a  given  time,  and  we  don't  like  that.  We  are 
hard  up  enough  already.  This  plan  would  ruin  us 
entirely." 

"It  isn't  a  practical  plan."  "Let  things  stay  as  they 
are,"  cried  several  rude  voices  from  the  discontented 
crowd. 

When  Nekhludof  went  on  to  speak  of  the  contract 


RESURRECTION  5 

which  he  himself  would  sign,  and  expected  them  to  sign 
also,  their  opposition  grew  more  and  more  determined. 

"What  is  the  use  of  signing?  We've  always  worked, 
and  we  shall  go  on  working.  What's  the  good  of  all  this 
talk?  We  are  just  ignorant  peasants.  We  can't  agree 
because  we  don't  understand  this  queer  business.  Let 
things  alone!" 

"It  might  be  better  if  we  didn't  have  to  furnish  the 
seeds,"  suggested  a  voice  from  the  crowd. 

Seeds  for  the  sowing  had  always  been  provided  by  the 
peasants,  and  this  was  a  request  to  the  landowner 
himself. 

"  Then  you  refuse  to  take  the  land.  Is  that  what  you 
mean?"  said  Nekhliidof,  turning  to  a  middle-aged,  bare 
footed  peasant,  a  cheerful-looking  man  in  a  torn  kaftan, 
who  was  holding  his  ragged  cap  in  his  left  hand,  just  like 
a  soldier  who  takes  off  his  cap  by  command. 

"Yes,  sir,"  replied  the  ex-soldier,  still  under  the  hyp 
notic  influences  of  a  soldier's  training. 

"Then  you  have  all  the  land  you  want?" 

"Oh,  no,  sir.  I  don't  mean  that,"  answered  the 
peasant  who  had  once  served  in  the  army,  still  holding 
his  torn  cap  in  front  of  him  as  if  he  were  offering  it  to  the 
passer-by,  grinning  all  the  while. 

Nekhludof,  unable  to  realize  the  state  of  things,  again 
repeated  his  offer,  adding,  "Would  it  not  be  better  for 
you  to  think  this  matter  over?" 

"There's  nothing  in  it  to  think  over.  We  hold  by 
what  we've  said,"  said  the  toothless  old  man,  in  his  stern 
voice. 

"Very  well,"  replied  Nekhludof;  "I  shall  be  here  all 
day  to-morrow,  and  you  can  let  me  know  if  you  change 
your  mind." 

To  this  the  peasants  made  no  reply,  and  Nekhliidof 
returned  to  his  office. 

"If  you  will  permit  me  to  say  so,  Prince,"  said  the 
steward,  "you  will  never  come  to  terms  with  your  peas- 


6  RESURRECTION 

ants;  they  are  an  obstinate  set  of  men,  and  whenever  they 
assemble  in  a  meeting,  they  grow  more  and  more  stubborn. 
They  mistrust  everybody,  and  yet  there  are  very  clever 
men  among  them.  Take  for  example  that  gray-haired 
man,  or  the  one  with  the  dark  complexion  who  objected 
to  everything.  They  are  both  men  of  intelligence. 
Whenever  one  of  them  comes  to  the  office  and  I  ask  him 
to  take  a  seat  and  offer  him  a  glass  of  tea,"  the  smiling 
steward  went  on,  "  we  talk  about  matters  in  general,  and 
you'd  be  surprised  to  hear  them,  they  are  so  wise  and  dis 
cuss  questions  almost  like  statesmen.  But  let  those  same 
men  come  to  a  meeting  and  it  is  the  same  old  story." 

"Then  why  not  ask  a  few  of  the  more  intelligent  ones 
to  come  to  the  office  ?"  said  Nekhludof.  "  I  could  easily 
explain  the  details  to  them  more  at  length." 

"Yes,  that  would  be  an  excellent  plan,"  answered  the 
smiling  steward. 

"Then  please  ask  them  to  come  to-morrow,"  said 
Nekhludof. 

"Very  well,"  said  the  steward,  still  more  cheerfully. 
"I  will  do  so.  I  will  send  them  word  to  come  here  to- 


" There's  a  shrewd  man  for  you!"  exclaimed  one 
swarthy  peasant  to  another,  as  he  swayed  to  and  fro  on 
his  well-fed  mare  beside  his  lean  old  friend,  who  wore  a 
ragged  kaftan  and  was  riding  near  him,  clanking  his  iron 
hobbles.  Both  men  were  on  their  way  to  pasture  their 
horses  on  the  highway  for  the  night,  and  if  they  got  a  good 
chance  let  them  loose  in  their  landlord's  woods. 

"'I'll  let  you  have  the  land  free  if  you'll  only  sign!' 
They  have  made  fools  of  us  long  enough.  In  these  days 
we  know  a  thing  or  two  ourselves." 

He  turned  around  to  call  the  colt  that  had  strayed  away. 
Stopping  his  horse  and  looking  behind,  he  shouted: 

"Here,  you  colt,  where  are  you?"  But  no  colt  was  to 
be  seen.  He  had  evidently  strayed  into  the  landlord's 


RESURRECTION  7 

meadows.  With  a  loud  neighing  the  young  colt  came 
galloping  up  from  the  damp,  sweet-smelling  meadows. 

"  Ah,"  exclaimed  the  shaggy-bearded  peasant,  "he  has 
caught  the  trick  of  grazing  in  his  master's  meadows." 

"Just  look  at  the  meadows.  They  need  a  good  weed 
ing.  We  shall  have  to  send  the  women  out  to  weed  them 
some  holiday,"  said  the  peasant  in  the  ragged  kaftan, 
"else  we  shall  spoil  our  scythes." 

"He  tells  us  to  sign,"  the  shaggy-haired  peasant  went 
on  with  his  criticism  of  his  master's  address,  "but  if  you 
were  to  sign,  he'd  swallow  you  alive." 

"That's  a  fact,"  replied  the  old  man.  They  said  no 
more,  and  the  only  sound  to  be  heard  was  the  thud  of  the 
horses'  feet  on  the  hard  road. 


VIII. 

WHEN  he  entered  the  house,  Nekhliidof  found  in  the 
office  a  high  bedstead  upon  which  a  down  bed  and  two 
pillows  had  been  arranged.  Over  these  was  spread  a 
quilted  counterpane  of  crimson  silk,  a  marvel  of  needle 
work,  a  loan  no  doubt  from  the  trousseau  of  the  steward's 
wife.  The  steward  offered  Nekhliidof  what  was  left 
from  the  dinner,  and  when  the  latter  declined  he  apolo 
gized  for  the  slender  fare  and  uncomfortable  quarters 
and  departed,  leaving  Nekhlridof  to  himself. 

The  peasants'  refusal  had  not  disturbed  him  in  the 
least.  On  the  contrary  he  felt  uncommonly  peaceful  and 
happy.  It  was  true  that  the  offer  he  made  at  Kuzminskoe 
had  been  accepted  with  many  thanks,  while  here  all  the 
peasants  disturbed  and  opposed  him, — and  yet  he  felt 
calm  and  peaceful. 

The  office  was  dirty  and  the  atmosphere  close.  Nekhlti- 
dof  went  into  the  yard  and  was  just  about  going  into  the 
garden,  when  the  memory  of  a  certain  night,  the  window 
in  the  maids'  room,  and  the  back  porch,  held  him  back. 


g  RESURRECTION 

He  could  not  endure  the  idea  of  strolling  through  places 
polluted  by  guilty  recollections.  He  returned  to  his  seat 
on  the  porch  and  sat  there  for  a  long  time  inhaling  the 
warm  air  heavy  with  the  penetrating  fragrance  of  young 
birch  leaves;  peering  into  the  dim  garden,  listening  to 
the  mill  wheel  and  to  the  singing  of  the  nightingales, 
while  another  strange  bird  whistled  monotonously  in  a 
bush  close  to  the  porch. 

The  lights  in  the  steward's  quarters  were  extinguished. 
Beyond  the  barn,  towards  the  east,  the  first  beams  of  the 
rising  moon  shone  forth;  from  time  to  time  the  distant 
flashes  of  sheet  lightning  illumined  the  deserted  garden 
and  the  dilapidated  house.  Thunder  echoed  in  the  dis 
tance;  quite  a  third  of  the  visible  sky  was  shrouded  by  a 
black  cloud.  The  nightingales  and  all  other  birds  were 
silent;  the  cackling  of  geese  sounded  above  the  din  of  the 
water-mill,  and  the  village  cocks  began  to  call  to  their 
friends  in  the  steward's  barnyard.  Cocks  always  begin  to 
crow  earlier  when  the  nights  are  hot  and  a  storm  is 
brewing. 

There  is  an  old  saying  that  cocks  crow  early  when  the 
night  is  to  be  a  gay  one.  For  Nekhludof  this  particular 
night  was  far  better  than  the  gayest  that  he  ever  had. 
For  him  it  was  a  night  of  peace  and  joy.  His  imagination 
re-created  for  him  the  impressions  of  the  happy  summer 
he  spent  in  this  place  when  he  was  young  and  innocent, 
and  he  felt  himself  now  to  be,  not  only  as  innocent  as  he 
was  then,  but  as  he  always  had  been  in  the  better  mo 
ments  of  his  life.  He  not  only  recalled  those  early  days, 
but  he  actually  felt  the  same  emotion  which  had  caused 
him,  then  a  lad  of  fourteen,  to  pray  that  God  would 
reveal  the  truth  to  him,  and  long  before  that  time,  when 
as  a  child  he  had  wept  on  his  mother's  knees,  when  he 
bade  her  good-by  and  promised  always  to  be  a  good  boy 
and  never  give  her  cause  for  grief.  In  these  hours  of  the 
happy  night  he  also  relived  the  days  he  had  spent  with 
Nikdlenka  Irte*nef,  when  they  determined  to  help  each 


RESURRECTION  9 

other  to  lead  virtuous  lives  and  try  to  make  everybody 
happy. 

He  now  recalled  the  time  when  at  Kuzmfnskoe  he  had 
been  tempted  to  regret  the  estate,  and  all  its  accessories, 
the  house,  and  the  forest,  and  he  asked  himself,  "Am  I 
the  same  man?"  It  seemed  so  strange  to  him  that  he 
ever  could  have  regretted.  He  recalled  everything  he 
had  seen  on  that  day:  the  woman  with  the  children, 
whose  husband  had  been  sent  to  jail  for  cutting  down 
trees  in  the  forest,  and  that  horrible  Matreria  who  thought, 
or  said  she  thought,  the  best  thing  for  women  of  their 
class  was  to  become  the  mistresses  of  gentlemen.  He 
recollected  the  way  she  had  dealt  with  the  children, 
hurrying  them  off  to  the  Foundling  Asylum,  and  especially 
that  poor  little  child  in  the  skull-cap  perishing  for  want 
of  food  and  yet  with  a  smile  on  its  lips.  He  remembered 
the  creature  who  was  about  to  become  a  mother,  who, 
because  she  was  so  overburdened  with  all  her  cares,  had 
let  her  cow  stray  into  his  meadow  land  and  now  had  to 
pay  the  penalty  by  working  for  him;  and  then  the  prison 
scene  arose  before  his  eyes,  the  shaven  heads,  the  cells, 
the  foul  atmosphere,  the  chains,  and  face  to  face  with  all 
these  horrors,  the  idiotic  luxury  of  his  own  life  and  the 
lives  of  other  men  of  his  class. 

The  bright  moon,  now  nearly  full,  rose  from  behind  the 
barn  and  dark  shadows  fell  across  the  yard,  and  the  iron 
roof  of  the  crumbling  house  glistened.  The  nightingale, 
reluctant  to  miss  the  moonlight,  began  piping  and 
trilling  in  the  garden. 

Nekhludof,  remembering  how  puzzling  the  questions 
were  which  used  to  absorb  him  at  Kuzminskoe,  and  his 
difficulties  when  he  tried  to  reach  a  satisfactory  solution, 
was  surprised  to  find  these  same  questions  now  so  per 
fectly  simple.  They  were  easy  now,  because  he  had 
ceased  to  think  of  himself  or  of  his  future  life  so  far  as  his 
personal  loss  or  gain  was  concerned.  He  had  never 
succeeded  in  finding  out  what  he  needed  for  himself,  but 


io  RESURRECTION 

he  saw  plainly  enough  what  he  must  do  for  others.  He 
knew  beyond  all  doubt  that  the  land  must  be  given  to  the 
peasants  because  it  would  be  wrong  to  keep  it.  He  knew 
that  he  ought  never  to  have  left  Katusha.  In  expiation 
of  his  own  guilt,  he  must  now  help  her  to  the  best  of  his 
ability.  He  knew  that  he  must  set  about  studying  the 
legal  proceedings  in  the  courts  and  the  system  of  punish 
ment,  which  had  never  seemed  to  him  as  they  seemed  to 
other  men.  He  had  no  idea  what  the  result  would  be, 
but  he  knew  exactly  what  he  himself  must  do,  and  this 
firm  conviction  filled  his  heart  with  joy. 

The  black  cloud  had  grown  till  the  whole  sky  was 
overspread,  and  the  sheet-lightning  had  been  followed 
by  forked  lightning  that  illumined  the  whole  yard  and 
outlined  the  dilapidated  house  with  its  crumbling  porches, 
Thunder  sounded  directly  overhead.  The  birds  grew 
silent  but  the  leaves  began  to  rustle,  and  the  breeze  lifted 
Nekhludof's  hair  where  he  sat  on  the  porch.  Presently 
drops  of  rain  began  to  fall,  drumming  on  the  dock  leaves 
and  on  the  iron  roof.  One  brilliant  flash  and  then  all 
was  still,  but  before  Nekhltidof  had  time  to  count  three,  a 
terrific  crash  sounded  just  above  his  head,  and  went 
rolling  along  the  sky.  Then  he  rose  and  went  into  the 
house. 

"Yes,  yes,"  he  thought  to  himself,  "all  this  work  we  do 
in  the  world  that  seems  so  vital  to  us,  has  a  meaning  that 
I  can  never  grasp.  It  is  not,  nor  can  it  be,  clear  to  me. 
Why  did  I  have  aunts  ?  Why  did  Nikolenka  Irtenef  die, 
and  why  do  I  go  on  living  ?  Why  should  there  have  been 
a  Katusha  and  my  own  madness  ?  Why  was  that  war  ? 
And  my  reckless  life  afterwards  ?  To  comprehend  these 
things  and  the  whole  purpose  of  the  Master  is  beyond  me, 
but  to  do  His  will,  that  is  inscribed  on  my  own  con 
science,  I  can  have  no  doubt  in  the  world  about  that. 
When  I  obey  His  commands,  my  soul  is  at  peace. " 

Now  the  rain  came  down  in  streams,  and  dashing  from 
roof  and  windows  fell  into  the  tub  beneath  almost  like  a 


RESURRECTION  n 

tumultuous  brook.  The  lightning  had  diminished. 
Nekhl \idof  went  back  to  his  room,  undressed,  and  crept 
into  bed,  not  without  the  dread  of  the  bugs  whose 
presence  was  betrayed  by  the  soiled  and  ragged  bits  of 
wall-paper  stripped  from  the  wall. 

"  Yes,  to  realize  the  fact  that  one  is  no  longer  a  master, 
but  a  servant,"  he  said  to  himself,  and  rejoiced  in  the 
thought. 

No  sooner  had  he  put  out  the  light  than  his  fears  were 
realized,  the  vermin  began  to  crawl  and  to  bite. 

"To  give  up  the  land,  to  go  to  Siberia,  to  endure  the 
fleas,  the  bugs,  and  the  filth.  .  .  .  Well,  does  that 
matter  ?  I  can  bear  all  that."  But  in  spite  of  his  exalted 
mood,  he  really  could  not  bear  it  and  he  rose  and  seated 
himself  beside  the  window,  where  he  watched  the  receding 
clouds  and  the  moon  again  peeping  forth. 

IX. 

IT  was  almost  daybreak  before  Nekhludof  fell  asleep, 
hence  it  was  late  the  next  day  before  he  woke. 

At  noon  the  seven  men  who  had  been  chosen  from  the 
crowd  of  peasants  and  summoned  by  the  steward, 
assembled  in  the  orchard  under  the  apple  trees,  where  the 
steward  had  arranged  the  table  and  benches,  which  were 
supported  by  light  posts  driven  into  the  ground.  It  was 
a  long  time  before  the  peasants  could  be  persuaded  to 
take  off  their  caps  and  be  seated. 

The  former  soldier  in  his  clean  bast  shoes  and  legs 
bound  in  leg-rags  was  more  persistent  than  ever  about 
holding  his  ragged  cap,  as  soldiers  always  do  at  funerals. 
But  when  one  among  them,  a  venerable-looking,  portly 
old  man,  the  ringlets  of  whose  iron-gray  beard  reminded 
one  of  Michael  Angelo's  Moses  and  whose  thick  gray 
hair  waved  over  his  sunburnt,  cinnamon-colored  brow, 
wrapping  himself  in  his  home-made  kaftan  climbed  over 
the  bench  and  sat  down  upon  it,  the  others  followed  his 


12  RESURRECTION 

example.  When  the  last  man  was  seated,  Nekhliidof 
took  a  seat  facing  them ;  leaning  on  his  elbows  and  stoop 
ing  over  his  paper,  he  began  to  explain  to  them  the  sub 
stance  of  what  he  had  written. 

It  may  have  been  because  the  listeners  were  few,  or 
what  is  more  likely  because  Nekhludof  was  absorbed  in 
the  business  at  hand  and  had  forgotten  himself,  that  he 
felt  so  perfectly  at  ease.  Involuntarily  he  turned  towards 
the  portly  old  man  with  the  flowing  gray  beard  as  if 
depending  on  him  for  approval  or  disapproval.  But 
Nekhludof  was  mistaken  in  the  man.  It  is  true  that  this 
fine-looking  patriarch  nodded  his  head  or  shook  it, 
frowning  when  some  of  the  others  retorted,  yet  it  was 
evidently  not  easy  for  him  to  understand  what  Nekhludof 
was  talking  about,  even  after  the  other  peasants  had 
explained  it  to  him  each  in  his  own  fashion.  A  small 
man,  beardless,  and  blind  in  one  eye,  who  sat  next  to  the 
patriarch,  was  far  more  intelligent.  He  wore  a  patched 
cotton  waist-coat  and  old  boots  worn  down  on  one  side. 
Nekhludof  afterwards  learned  that  he  was  a  builder  of 
chimneys  and  ovens.  In  his  efforts  to  hear  every  word 
he  kept  his  eyebrows  in  perpetual  motion,  and  repeated 
to  the  others  all  that  Nekhludof  said,  in  terms  of  his  own, 
of  course.  A  short,  thick-set  old  man  with  a  white  beard 
and  bright  intelligent  eyes  understood  quite  well.  He 
lost  no  chance  for  flinging  satirical  remarks  at  the  speaker, 
being  evidently  rather  proud  of  his  skill.  The  ex-soldier 
would  have  been  clever  enough  to  understand  if  his  military 
life  had  not  stupefied  him.  But  the  man  who  was  really 
most  earnest  was  a  tall  peasant  with  a  long  nose  and  a 
short  beard.  He  wore  a  suit  of  neat  homemade  clothes 
and  new  bast  shoes.  He  comprehended  everything,  but 
only  opened  his  lips  to  speak  when  it  was  really  necessary. 
Two  more  old  men,  one  of  whom  was  the  toothless 
individual  who  had  yesterday  shouted  a  distinct  refusal 
to  every  offer  which  Nekhludof  had  made,  and  the  other 
with  the  kindly  face,  tall,  pallid,  and  crippled,  whose  thin 


RESURRECTION  13 

legs  were  tightly  bound  in  leg-rags,  listened  attentively, 
but  never  uttered  a  word. 

First  of  all,  Nekhludof  explained  his  ideas  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  landed  property.  "I  maintain  that  the  land 
should  neither  be  bought  nor  sold,  because  if  it  were  to 
be  sold  those  men  who  have  the  money  would  be  the  ones 
to  buy  it  and  then  they  would  ask  whatever  rent  they 
chose  for  the  use  of  it.  They  will  take  money  for  the 
privilege  of  using  that  land,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"True  for  you,"  said  the  long-nosed  man,  in  a  deep 
bass  voice. 

"That's  so,"  said  the  ex-soldier. 

"A  woman  just  gathers  a  few  blades  for  her  cow,  and 
she  is  caught  and  carried  to  jail,"  remarked  the  lame  old 
man  with  the  good-natured  face. 

"  Our  land  is  some  five  versts  from  here,  but  none  of  us 
can  afford  to  hire  any  that  is  nearer.  They  have  raised 
the  price  so  that  we  couldn't  make  it  pay,"  exclaimed  the 
toothless  old  man. 

"They  twist  us  into  ropes.  Manorial  labor  wasn't  so 
bad  as  this,"  said  the  angry  man. 

"That  is  what  I  think  myself,"  said  Nekhludof .  "I 
consider  it  a  sin  to  own  land  for  this  reason.  I  want  to 
give  it  away." 

"Well,  that  would  be  a  good  thing,"  said  the  old  man 
with  a  curly  beard,  evidently  understanding  that  Nekhlu 
dof  meant  to  let  the  land. 

"That  is  why  I  have  come  here;  I  do  not  wish  to  own 
land  any  longer.  But  of  course  we  must  talk  the  matter 
over  and  decide  on  the  best  way  to  manage  it." 

"  Why,  just  give  it  to  the  peasants,  that's  all  you  have 
to  do,"  said  the  cross  man  who  had  no  teeth. 

Nekhludof  hesitated  for  a  moment.  He  felt  that  those 
words  implied  a  suspicion  of  his  sincerity.  But  he 
quickly  recovered  himself  and  took  advantage  of  this 
remark  to  express  what  he  wished  to  say. 

"I  should  be  glad  to  do  that,"  he  said,  "but  to  whom 


I4  RESURRECTION 

should  I  give  it  and  how?  To  what  peasants?  Why 
should  I  give  it  to  you  rather  than  to  the  Deminsk 
peasants  ?" 

Deminskoe  was  the  next  village,  with  a  population  of 
paupers.  No  one  spoke  except  the  ex-soldier,  who  ex 
claimed,  "Just  so!" 

"Now  tell  me,"  said  Nekhludof,  "if  you  were  going  to 
distribute  the  land  among  the  peasants,  how  would  you 
set  about  it  ?" 

"  Why,  we  should  divide  it  equally,  of  course,"  said  the 
builder  of  chimneys  and  ovens,  raising  and  lowering  his 
eyebrows. 

"  What  else  could  we  do  ?  We  ought  to  share  equally, 
I  should  say,"  exclaimed  the  good-natured  man  in  the 
white  leg-rags. 

Everybody  approved  of  this  arrangement  as  the  most 
satisfactory  one. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  an  equal  division  ?  Would 
that  include  the  house-serfs  ?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"  Oh,  no,  sir,"  said  the  ex-soldier,  trying  to  look  cheer 
ful.  But  the  tall,  serious  peasant  did  not  agree  with  him. 

"If  we  are  going  to  divide  it,"  he  said  in  his  deep  bass 
voice,  "everybody  ought  to  have  a  share." 

"No,"  replied  Nekhludof,  who  had  thought  of  this  ob 
jection  as  one  likely  to  occur  to  the  peasants.  "  That 
could  never  be  done.  If  we  were  to  divide  the  land  in 
equal  parts,  those  who  have  never  tilled  the  soil  would  sell 
their  shares  to  the  rich  men,  and  the  rich  will  again  have 
the  land,  while  those  who  live  by  working  their  own  lots 
will  naturally  increase  and  for  them  there  will  be  no  land 
left,  — and  so  the  rich  men  will  again  control  those  who 
need  land." 

"Yes,  sir,"  the  ex-soldier  made  haste  to  confirm  this 
statement. 

"There  ought  to  be  a  law  forbidding  the  sale  of  land  to 
any  man  who  refuses  to  plow  it,"  cried  the  chimney- 
builder,  angrily  interrupting  the  ex-soldier. 


RESURRECTION  15 

To  this  Nekhludof  replied  by  asking  how  any  looker-on 
could  be  sure  that  the  plowman  was  the  owner  of  the 
land  he  was  plowing. 

Here  the  tall,  thoughtful-looking  peasant  suggested  a 
partnership  arrangement,  the  land  to  be  divided  among 
the  men  who  did  the  plowing.  "Then  unless  a  man 
plows,  he  gets  no  land,"  he  said  in  his  imperative  bass 
voice. 

Nekhludof  was  not  unprepared  for  this  communistic 
project.  His  arguments  were  ready.  He  said  that  every 
horse  and  every  farming  tool  must  be  of  equal  value,  and 
the  entire  property  must  be  held  in  common, — and  to 
make  a  scheme  of  that  kind  a  real  success,  the  owners 
must  be  of  one  mind. 

"You  will  never  make  our  people  agree,"  cried  the 
angry  old  man. 

"There  will  be  a  constant  fight  going  on,"  said  the  old 
man  with  the  white  beard  and  laughing  eyes. 

"Then  there  is  the  most  important  thing  of  all,"  said 
Nekhludof,  "the  division  of  the  land  according  to  its 
quality.  Why  should  one  man  have  rich  soil  and  his 
neighbor  sandy  soil  ?" 

"It  ought  to  be  divided  so  that  every  man  will  get  some 
poor  soil  and  some  good  soil,"  said  the  chimney- 
builder. 

To  this  Nekhludof  answered  that  the  problem  was  not 
confined  to  one  community  but  concerned  the  different 
"Governments"  of  Russia  among  which  an  equitable 
division  of  land  must  be  made.  If  land  were  to  be  given 
away  to  the  peasants,  some  would  have  good  lots  and 
others  bad  ones.  Every  man  would  naturally  want  to 
get  the  good  land. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  the  ex-soldier. 

The  others  said  nothing. 

"  So  you  see  this  is  not  the  simple  matter  it  may  have 
seemed,"  said  Nekhludof.  "Many  a  man  has  puzzled 
over  this  problem  before  now.  There  is  an  American, 


16  RESURRECTION 

Henry  George,  who  has  proposed  a  plan  that  seems  to  me 
ft  satisfactory  one.     It  agrees  with  my  own  ideas." 

"But  you  are  the  master  anyhow,  so  what  do  you  care 
what  other  men  say  ?  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  give  us  the 
land,  nobody  can  hinder  you,"  said  the  cross  old  man. 

Nekhludof  was  vexed  by  this  interruption,  but  it  pleased 
him  to  see  that  others  among  his  listeners  shared  his 
annoyance. 

"  Wait  a  moment,  Uncle  Simon,  let  him  tell  us  about  it," 
said  the  intelligent  peasant,  in  that  deep  voice  of  his. 

Thus  encouraged,  Nekhludof  went  on  to  expound  to 
them  Henry  George's  theory  of  the  Single  Tax.  "The 
land  belongs  to  the  Lord,"  he  said. 

"  That's  so."     "  That's  true,"  echoed  the  listeners. 

The  land  is  common  property.  One  man  has  as  good 
a  right  to  it  as  another.  But  since  the  soil  is  both  good 
and  bad,  and  every  man  wants  the  good  soil,  how  shall  it 
be  equalized?  Shall  the  man  who  owns  the  good  land 
pay  to  those  who  own  none  at  all  as  much  money  as  his 
own  land  would  bring?  Nekhludof  went  on  to  answer 
his  own  question :  As  it  is  not  easy  to  tell  who  should  pay 
and  who  should  be  paid,  and  as  money  must  be  collected 
for  the  public  expenses,  it  ought  to  be  so  arranged  that 
every  man  who  owns  land  should  pay  into  the  public  fund 
as  much  money  as  his  land  is  worth.  Then  would  every 
body  share  alike.  If  you  wish  to  own  good  land  you  must 
pay  more  for  it  than  poor  land  would  cost.  But  if  a  man 
did  not  care  to  own  land  he  would  have  nothing  to  pay. 
The  taxes  and  the  other  public  expenses  would  be  paid 
for  by  the  landowners. 

"  That's  just  so.  He  who  has  better  land  should  pay 
more,"  said  the  chimney-builder,  working  his  eyebrows. 

"  He  must  have  been  a  clever  fellow,  that  man  George," 
said  the  portly  old  man  with  the  curly  hair. 

"If  we  can  only  afford  to  pay  the  price,"  said  the  tall 
man  with  the  bass  voice,  who  evidently  foresaw  the  climax. 

"  The  payments  must  be  neither  too  high  nor  too  low, 


RESURRECTION  17 

for  if  they  were  too  high  they  might  not  be  paid,  and  if 
they  were  too  low,  everybody  would  want  to  buy  his 
neighbor's  land,  and  it  would  end  in  a  land  speculation, 
and  now  you  understand  what  it  is  that  I  wish  you  to  do." 

•'That's  all  right,"  said  the  peasants. 

"That  George  was  a  mighty  clever  man,"  said  the 
portly  man  with  the  curly  hair;  "he  invented  a  good 
thing." 

"How  would  it  be  in  case  I  wanted  to  get  some  land  ?" 
asked  the  steward,  smiling  as  he  spoke. 

"If  there  were  a  parcel  to  spare,  you  might  take  posses 
sion  and  cultivate  it,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"  What  do  you  want  of  land  ?  You  are  well  fed  as  it  is," 
said  the  old  man  with  the  laughing  eyes. 

Whereupon  the  conference  came  to  an  end. 

Nekhludof  again  repeated  his  offer,  but  he  had  ceased 
to  expect  an  immediate  answer.  He  advised  them  to  talk 
things  over  with  the  villagers  and  then  to  come  back  and 
give  him  their  answer.  The  peasants  replied  that  they 
would  do  so,  and  departed  in  an  excited  state  of  mind. 
It  was  a  long  time  before  the  sound  of  their  voices  died 
away  in  the  distance.  Indeed,  they  were  still  talking  late 
into  the  night,  as  was  evident  from  the  echoes  which  the 
wind  brought  up  from  the  banks  of  the  river. 

The  following  day  was  spent  by  the  peasants  in  dis 
cussing  their  master's  offer.  The  village  was  divided  be 
tween  two  parties,  one  of  which  was  in  favor  of  accepting 
an  offer  which  seemed  advantageous  and  could  surely  do 
them  no  harm.  The  other  party  was  by  no  means  sure. 
It  could  not  understand,  and  therefore  suspected  a  trick. 
This  consultation  lasted  two  days,  and  on  the  third  day 
they  all  agreed  to  accept  the  proposal  with  its  accompany 
ing  conditions,  and  came  to  Nekhludof  to  announce  the 
decision  of  the  commune.  It  seems  that  the  men  had 
been  much  impressed  by  the  opinion  of  an  aged  woman 
who  was  sure  that  the  master  had  begun  to  be  anxious 
about  his  soul  and  was  doing  this  in  order  to  save  it. 

VOL.    II. — 2 


i8  RESURRECTION 

Therefore  he  could  not  be  trying  to  cheat  the  peasants. 
This  explanation  was  furthermore  confirmed  by  the  gen 
erous  alms  which  Nekhludof  had  distributed  while  he 
stayed  at  Pandvo.  His  alms,  however,  resulted  from  the 
fact  that  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  found  himself  face 
to  face  with  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  peasants,  that  he 
was  appalled  by  it,  and  though  he  realized  that  it  was  un 
wise,  he  couldn't  help  giving  them  money.  Just  then  he 
chanced  to  have  a  large  sum  on  hand,  the  receipts  from 
the  forest  in  Kuzminskoe  he  had  sold  the  year  before,  and 
also  certain  smaller  sums  that  had  been  paid  in  for  farm 
ing  implements. 

No  sooner  had  the  report  spread  that  the  master  was 
giving  money  to  any  one  who  asked  for  it,  than  crowds 

—  chiefly  women — began  to  come  in  from  all  the  neigh 
boring  villages,  begging  for  help.    He  was  utterly  at  a  loss 
to  know  how  to  deal  with  them.     What  was  there  to  guide 
him  in  his  distribution  of  alms  ?     To  whom  ought  he  to 
give,  and  how  much  ?     They  were  evidently  suffering,  and 
he  hadn't  the  heart  to  refuse  the  poor  creatures  when  his 
own  purse  was  running  over.     At  the  same  time  there  was 
no  sense  to  give  in  a  haphazard  way  to  those  who  asked. 

During  his  last  day  at  Pan6vo  he  went  into  the  house 
and  busied  himself  rummaging  in  the  cupboards  and 
drawers,  where  among  other  things  he  found  numerous 
letters  in  the  lower  drawer  of  his  aunts'  old  mahogany 
chiffonier,  with  its  bulging  front  and  its  brown  rings  in 
lions'  heads.  Among  the  letters  there  was  a  photograph, 

—  Sophya  Ivdnovna,  Katerina  Ivanovna,  himself  as  a 
student,  and  Katusha,  then  so  innocent,  so  joyous,  so  fair 
to  look  upon, — all  in  one  group.     From  all  the  objects 
in  the  house  Nekhludof  selected  the  letters  and  this 
photograph.     Everything  else  he  left  for  the  miller,  who 
had  on  the  recommendation  of  the  smiling  steward  bought 
the  house  and  furniture  for  a  sum  far  below  its  real  value. 
Recalling  his  sense  of  regret  at  the  loss  of  his  estate  at 
Kuzminskoe,  Nekhludof  could  not  imagine  why  he  had 


RESURRECTION  19 

had  such  a  feeling.  His  heart  bounded  with  the  sense 
of  freedom  and  novelty  of  a  traveler  when  he  discovers  a 
new  country. 


X. 


IT  was  already  nightfall  when  NekhMdof  reached  the 
city;  it  made  an  extremely  strange  impression  upon  him 
as  he  drove  from  the  station  through  the  lighted  streets 
to  his  house.  Here  the  rooms  smelled  of  naphtha  and  he 
found  Agraphdna  Petrdvna  and  Korne'y,  cross  and  tired 
to  death,  quarreling  over  the  garments  whose  sole  use  in 
life  was  to  be  brought  out  and  aired  and  then  put  away 
again.  His  own  room  was  not  ready  for  him.  In  fact 
it  was  so  cluttered  by  the  boxes  which  had  been  piled  up 
in  it,  that  it  was  absolutely  difficult  to  get  into  it.  It  was 
evident  that  his  unexpected  arrival  interfered  with  the 
usual  work.  The  contrast  between  the  abject  poverty  in 
the  village  and  this  stupid  waste  in  which  he  himself 
was  once  an  agent  was  so  unpleasant  that  he  decided  the 
next  day  to  move  to  a  hotel,  leaving  Agraph&ia  Petr6vna 
to  manage  matters  after  her  fashion,  until  his  sister,  who 
was  to  make  the  final  disposition  of  everything  in  the 
house,  should  arrive. 

NekhMdof  left  the  house  early  the  next  morning.  He 
found  modest  rooms  in  a  modest  establishment  not  far 
from  the  prison.  Here  he  rented  a  suite  of  two  rather 
dirty  rooms,  and  after  superintending  the  transfer  of  cer 
tain  things  which  had  been  set  aside  in  the  house,  he  went 
in  pursuit  of  his  lawyer. 

It  was  cold  out  of  doors  After  the  spring  rains  and  the 
thunderstorm  a  cold  spell  had  set  in.  It  was  so  chilly 
and  the  wind  was  so  piercing  that  Nekhludof  shivered  in 
his  thin  overcoat  and  walked  faster,  hoping  to  get  warm. 
He  thought  of  the  village  folks,  the  women  and  children 
and  the  old  man  whose  misery  he  had  so  lately  realized, 


20  RESURRECTION 

the  shriveled  smiling  baby,  with  its  writhing  legs,  and 
could  not  refrain  from  comparing  them  with  the  citizens 
of  the  town.  As  he  passed  the  meat  and  fish  shops,  and 
the  shops  where  ready-made  clothing  was  sold,  he  was 
struck  by  the  prosperous  look  of  the  well-fed,  neatly 
dressed  shopkeepers.  Nothing  like  that  could  be  found 
in  the  country.  These  men  all  seemed  satisfied  that  their 
success  in  cheating  those  who  knew  nothing  about  the 
quality  of  their  wares  was  not  a  useless,  but  rather  a  very 
important  business. 

The  coachmen  in  their  padded  kaftans  with  buttons 
down  then*  backs  looked  just  as  well  fed,  and  so  did  the 
porters  in  their  braided  caps  and  the  chambermaids  with 
their  crimps  and  their  aprons,  and  above  all  the  fast 
izvdstchiks  with  cropped  hair,  and  impudent  and  insulting 
glances  at  the  foot  passengers  while  they  lolled  back  on 
the  box.  Nekhludof  could  not  help  seeing  the  same 
peasant  folk  driven  from  home  to  the  city  by  the  need  of  land 
he  had  seen  in  the  country.  Some  had  accommodated 
themselves  to  city  life  and  making  the  most  of  their  op 
portunities  became  something  like  their  masters,  and  were 
pleased  with  their  positions;  others  had  fallen  into  con 
ditions  even  worse  than  those  that  they  had  known  in  the 
country  and  had  become  even  more  pitiable.  The  shoe 
makers  that  he  saw  working  at  basement  windows  seemed 
to  belong  to  the  latter  class,  and  also  the  pale,  disheveled 
washwomen,  their  sleeves  rolled  above  the  elbows  of 
their  thin  arms,  ironing  in  front  of  an  open  window  from 
which  a  soapy  steam  poured  in  clouds.  He  noticed  two 
stockingless  house-painters;  their  bare  feet  were  thrust  into 
slippers,  and  they  wore  long  aprons  bespattered  with  paint 
from  top  to  bottom.  Their  sleeves  were  pushed  above 
their  lean,  brown  arms  which  showed  their  swelling  veins, 
and  each  man  carried  a  pail  of  paint.  Their  faces  looked 
haggard  and  ill-tempered,  and  they  quarreled  incessantly. 
The  same  expression  was  to  be  seen  on  the  faces  of  the 
teamsters  jolting  along  in  their  carts.  The  ragged  men 


RESURRECTION  21 

and  women  who  stood  at  street  corners  with  children 
clinging  to  them,  and  begged  for  alms,  had  the  same  for 
lorn  look,  and  so  did  the  few  faces  of  which  Nekhludof 
caught  sight  in  the  open  windows  of  an  eating-house  he 
happened  to  pass.  At  the  dirty  tables  littered  with  bottles 
and  tea-service,  among  which  waiters  dressed  in  white 
passed  to  and  fro,  sat  perspiring,  red-faced  men  with  a 
dull  look  in  their  eyes,  singing  and  shouting  aloud.  Near 
one  window  sat  a  man  with  uplifted  eyebrows,  pouting 
lips,  and  a  fixed  stare  as  if  he  were  struggling  to  remember 
something. 

"I  wonder  why  they  have  all  gathered  here,"  thought 
Nekhludof,  as  he  unconsciously  inhaled  with  the  dust 
which  the  cold  wind  drove  in  his  face,  the  prevailing  odor 
of  fresh  paint  and  rancid  butter. 

In  one  of  the  streets  he  came  across  a  procession  of 
teamsters  carting  iron,  which  made  such  a  terrific  din  on 
the  uneven  pavement  that  his  head  and  eyes  began  to  ache. 
He  was  hurrying  along  to  get  beyond  the  carts,  when 
suddenly  he  heard  a  voice  calling  to  him.  He  stopped  and 
saw  a  few  steps  ahead  of  him  an  officer  with  a  sharp- 
pointed  waxed  mustache  and  a  smooth,  shining  counte 
nance,  who  was  waving  his  hand  to  him  from  the  smart 
droshky  in  which  he  sat,  smiling  in  a  friendly  way  and 
revealing  a  row  of  particularly  white  teeth. 

"Is  that  you,  Nekhludof?" 

Nekhludof  s  first  impulse  was  to  rejoice.  "  Oh,  Schoen- 
bock!"  he  exclaimed. 

In  less  than  a  second,  he  realized  that  this  was  not  an 
occasion  for  special  rejoicing.  It  was  the  same  Schoen- 
bock  who  used  to  visit  his  aunts.  Nekhludof  had  not 
met  the  man  for  some  time.  Rumor  had  reached  his  ears, 
however,  to  the  effect  that  he  was  heavily  in  debt  and  had 
been  compelled  to  leave  his  regiment,  but  he  still  remained 
in  the  cavalry  and  frequented  the  society  of  the  wealthy 
upper  class.  His  beaming  countenance  would  seem  to 
corroborate  this  report. 


22  RESURRECTION 

"  So  glad  I  saw  you.  There  is  not  a  soul  in  town  that 
I  know.  But  you  have  grown  gray  and  old,  my  dear 
fellow,"  he  exclaimed,  as  he  got  out  of  his  conveyance  and 
straightened  his  shoulders.  "I  knew  you  by  your  gait. 
Why  can't  we  dine  together?  Is  there  any  place  where 
we  can  find  a  good  dinner?" 

"I  am  afraid  I  could  not  appoint  an  hour,"  said 
Nekhludof,  who  was  absorbed  in  devising  some  way  of 
escape  that  would  not  be  offensive  to  his  former  comrade. 
"What  are  you  doing  here ?"  he  asked. 

"  Business,  my  dear  fellow,  business;  a  certain  guardian 
ship  affair.  I  am  the  manager  of  Samanof's  business 
affairs.  Do  you  know  him?  You  must  have  heard  of 
him.  He  is  enormously  rich,  but  his  brain  has  gone 
wrong.  Imagine  owning  54,000  dessiatins  of  land!"  he 
exclaimed  emphatically,  with  as  much  pride  as  if  he  him 
self  had  won  all  that  land.  "His  affairs  were  in  a  very 
bad  way.  The  entire  estate  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
peasants,  and  they  tilled  the  soil  and  paid  no  rent.  They 
owed  him  80,000  roubles,  fancy  that !  But  in  one  year  I 
made  a  big  change,  and  increased  the  revenue  70  per  cent. 
What  do  you  say  to  that  ?  Eh  ?"  he  added  proudly. 

Nekhludof  now  remembered  having  heard  that  this  very 
Schoenbock  who  had  squandered  his  own  money  had 
through  private  influence  been  appointed  guardian  of  the 
property  of  a  rich  old  man  who  was  squandering  his  estate. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  guardian  was  doing  a 
thriving  business.  "  How  can  I  get  rid  of  this  man  with 
out  offending  him,  I  wonder?"  he  thought,  as  he  looked 
at  the  plump  visage  with  its  pomaded  mustache  and  lis 
tened  to  his  friendly  talk  about  eating-houses  and  man 
aging  trusts. 

"Now  then,  let's  talk  about  our  dinner.  Where  shall 
we  go  ?" 

Nekhludof  took  out  his  watch.  "  I  am  really  too  busy," 
he  said. 

"  Well,  then,  you'll  go  to  the  races  with  me  this  evening." 


RESURRECTION  23 

"No,  I  can't  do  that  either." 

"Oh,  please  do.  I  have  no  horses  of  my  own  these 
days,  but  I  always  bet  on  Grishin's  horses.  You  remem 
ber  him.  He  has  a  fine  stud.  If  you  only  come,  we'll 
take  supper  together." 

"No,  I  couldn't  take  supper  with  you,"  said  Nekhlu- 
dof,  smiling. 

"  Oh,  that's  too  bad.  Where  are  you  going  now  ? 
Jump  in  and  let  me  take  you." 

"I'm  only  going  to  see  a  lawyer  who  lives  but  a  short 
distance  from  here,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"Oh,  I  remember  now.  You  are  interested  in  the 
prison.  Have  you  become  a  pleading  lawyer  for  prisoners  ? 
The  Korchdgins  told  me  something  about  that,"  said 
Schoenbock,  laughing.  "They've  already  gone  out  of 
town.  Do  tell  me  all  about  it." 

"  Yes,  everything  you  have  heard  is  quite  true,"  replied 
Nekhludof,  "but  I  can't  talk  about  such  things  in  the 
street." 

"  Oh,  I  know,  you  always  were  eccentric.  Once  more, 
will  you  come  to  the  races  ?" 

"  No,  I  won't,"  exclaimed  Nekhludof,  "  but  please  don't 
mind." 

"Mind?  Why  should  I  mind?  But  where  are  you 
stopping  ?"  he  asked,  and  all  at  once  his  face  grew  serious, 
his  eyes  fixed  themselves  as  if  he  saw  some  object  invisible 
to  others,  his  eyebrows  were  uplifted.  He  seemed  to  be 
trying  to  recall  the  address,  and  Nekhludof  recognized  the 
very  same  expression  he  had  seen  on  the  face  of  the  man 
with  his  pouting  lips  at  the  restaurant  window. 

"My!  but  it's  cold  here,  isn't  it?" 

"Yes,  indeed,  it  is." 

Schoenbock  turned  to  the  driver.  "  You  have  the  par 
cels  safe  ?"  he  asked.  "  Well,  then,  I'll  say  good-by.  I'm 
awfully  glad  to  have  met  you,  old  fellow,"  he  exclaimed, 
and  after  gripping  Nekhludof 's  hand  he  jumped  into 
the  seat,  looking  back  to  wave  his  gloved  hand,  and 


24  RESURRECTION 

smiled  the  stereotyped  smile  that  revealed  his  snow-white 
teeth. 

"  Is  it  possible  that  I  could  ever  have  been  a  man  like 
that?"  thought  Nekhludof.  "Perhaps  not  quite  like 
that,  but  I  wished  to  be  like  him.  It  doesn't  seem  now  as 
if  I  could  have  dreamed  of  spending  my  life  in  that 
fashion." 


XI. 


THE  lawyer  admitted  Nekhliidof  before  his  turn  came, 
and  began  at  once  to  discuss  the  Mensh6f  case,  an  account 
of  which  he  had  been  reading  and  which  excited  his  wrath 
by  its  groundless  accusations. 

"It's  a  crying  shame,"  he  said.  "Very  likely  the  fire 
was  started  by  the  owner  himself  to  get  his  insurance 
money,  but  the  trouble  is  that  we've  no  evidence  against 
the  Menshdfs  that  was  conclusive.  In  fact  there  was  no 
evidence  at  all.  This  was  due  to  the  extreme  zeal  of  the 
examining  magistrate  and  the  indifference  of  the  Assistant 
Prosecutor.  If  the  case  were  to  be  tried  here  instead  of  in 
the  Provincial  Court,  I  will  guarantee  an  acquittal  and 
ask  for  no  fee.  Now  as  to  this  other  matter; — the  peti 
tion  of  Feddsya  Birukova  to  the  Emperor  is  ready.  If 
you  are  going  to  Petersburg  you  must  take  it  with  you, 
present  it  in  person,  and  ask  for  its  consideration.  Other 
wise  they  will  simply  make  an  inquiry  and  nothing  will 
come  of  it.  You  must  try  to  reach  those  who  are  in 
fluential  in  the  Court  of  Appeals.  Well,  is  there  anything 
more  ?" 

"Yes,  I  received  a  letter " 

"  Oh,  I  see,  you  have  become  a  sort  of  spout  into  which 
the  prison  complaints  are  poured,"  said  the  lawyer,  with  a 
smile.  "  Sooner  or  later  it  will  be  too  much  of  a  burden 
for  you." 

"  But  this  is  really  an  astounding  case,"  said  Nekhludof. 


RESURRECTION  25 

He  briefly  summarized  the  main  points  of  the  case.  An 
intelligent  peasant  had  been  reading  and  explaining  the 
Gospel  to  his  friends  in  the  village.  The  clergy  regarded 
this  act  as  a  crime,  and  the  man  had  been  denounced. 
He  was  examined  by  the  magistrate,  the  Public  Prosecutor 
drew  up  an  act,  and  the  Court  committed  him  for  trial. 
"I  call  that  a  terrible  state  of  things,"  said  Nekhludof. 
"  Do  you  think  it  can  be  true  ?" 

"  What  is  it  that  surprises  you  ?"  asked  the  lawyer. 

"  Everything.  I  can  understand  how  the  rural  police 
man  who  is  under  orders  might  do  it,  but  the  Prosecutor 
who  wrote  out  the  accusation  is  an  educated  man " 

"But  this  is  just  where  we  make  our  mistake.  We 
are  in  the  habit  of  thinking  that  our  prosecutors  and 
judges  are  Liberals.  Once  upon  a  time  it  was  the  case, 
but  it  is  quite  different  in  these  days.  They  are  simply 
officials  whose  chief  interest  is  the  twentieth  day  of  every 
month,  when  their  salaries  are  due.  These  salaries  they 
would  be  glad  to  see  increased.  Their  principles  amount 
to  nothing.  They  are  ready  to  accuse,  try,  and  sentence 
whomsoever  you  like." 

"Are  there  really  laws  now  in  existence,  that  permit 
them  to  exile  a  man  for  reading  the  Gospel  to  his  fellow- 
men?" 

"  Not  only  may  a  man  be  sent  to  places  '  not  too  re 
mote,'  but  even  condemned  to  hard  labor  in  Siberia, 
if  it  be  proved  that  he  has  been  expounding  the  Gospel, 
not  according  to  the  orders  of  the  Church,  but  according 
to  his  own  ideas.  To  blame  the  Orthodox  religion  in  the 
presence  of  the  people  and  according  to  Statute,  is  to  be 
punished  by  penal  servitude." 

"Impossible!     I  can't  believe  it." 

"But  it  is  the  truth  that  I  am  telling  you.  I  always 
say  to  the  gentlemen  who  belong  to  the  law  courts,"  con 
tinued  the  lawyer,  "  that  I  never  look  at  them  without  a 
sense  of  gratitude.  We  should  all  be  in  prison  if  they 
didn't  protect  us.  It  is  such  an  easy  matter  to  take  away 


26  RESURRECTION 

a  man's  special  privileges  and  send  him  to  'parts  not  too 
remote.'" 

"  But  if  everything  depends  on  the  arbitrary  will  of  a 
Prosecutor,  what's  the  use  in  having  tribunals  at  all?" 
asked  Nekhludof. 

The  lawyer  laughed  merrily.  "  What  questions  you  do 
ask!  That  is  philosophy,  my  dear  friend.  There  is  no 
reason  why  we  should  not  discuss  philosophy.  You  must 
come  to  our  Saturdays.  I  think  you  know  my  wife.  You 
will  always  find  scientists,  literary  men,  and  artists  at  our 
house,  and  then  we  can  discuss  these  sociological  ques 
tions,"  said  the  lawyer,  with  an  emphasis  of  ironical 
pathos  on  the  words.  "  Do  come  if  you  can." 

"I'll  try  to  do  so,"  replied  Nekhludof,  conscious  all  the 
while  that  he  was  telling  a  fib  and  that  if  there  were 
a  place  to  be  avoided  it  would  be  the  lawyer's  house  where 
scientists,  artists,  and  literati  assembled.  The  laughter 
which  his  question  about  the  tribunals  had  excited  and 
his  reply  to  Nekhludof 's  remark  that  trials  were  meaning 
less  if  the  judges  can  apply  the  laws  according  to  their 
pleasure,  as  well  as  his  tone  when  he  spoke  of  philosophy 
and  sociological  questions,  showed  Nekhludof  how  differ 
ently  he  and  the  lawyer,  not  to  mention  his  friends,  looked 
at  such  things,  and  how  in  spite  of  his  alienation  from 
his  friends,  Schoenbock,  for  instance,  he  now  felt  less 
sympathy  with  the  lawyer  and  his  set. 


XII. 

IT  was  growing  late  and  the  prison  was  a  long  way  off, 
so  Nekhludof  hired  an  izvostchik.  As  they  drove  through 
a  certain  street,  the  driver,  a  man  of  middle  age,  with  a 
kindly,  intelligent  face,  turned  to  Nekhludof,  and  called 
his  attention  to  an  enormous  house,  in  process  of  build 
ing. 

" That's  a  monstrous  house,  isn't  it?"  he  asked,  as 


RESURRECTION  27 

though  he  had  helped  to  build  it,  and  was  proud  of  the 
work. 

It  really  was  a  monstrous  structure,  built  in  a  compli 
cated  and  extraordinary  style.  A  solid  scaffolding  of 
heavy  timbers  joined  together  by  iron  clamps  surroundecj 
the  building,  which  was  separated  from  the  street  by  a, 
board  fence.  Workmen  bespattered  with  plaster  were 
scurrying  to  and  fro  like  so  many  ants.  Some  were  lay 
ing  bricks,  some  were  hewing  stones,  while  others  carried 
up  the  heavily  laden  pails  and  hods  and  brought  the 
empty  ones  down.  A  stout,  well-dressed  man,  probably 
the  architect,  stood  close  to  the  scaffolding,  pointing  up 
ward  as  he  talked  to  the  contractor  from  the  Government 
of  Vladimir,  who  listened  to  him  with  an  air  of  respectful 
attention.  And  all  the  while  empty  and  loaded  carts  were 
rolling  in  and  out  of  the  gate  near  which  Nekhludof  was 
standing. 

"  How  sure  they  are,  all  of  them,  those  who  do  the  work, 
and  those  who  compel  them  to  do  it,  that  it  is  all  right  for 
the  laborers  to  be  building  a  stupid  palace  for  some 
stupid  man  who  is  of  no  use  in  the  world,  probably  one 
of  the  very  same  men  who  ruin  and  rob  them,  while  their 
weary  wives,  often  pregnant,  are  slaving  at  home  beyond 
their  strength,  and  the  children  crying  for  food,  —  the 
poor  starved  little  midgets  in  their  skull-caps,  grinning 
like  toothless  old  men." 

"  Yes,  that  is  what  I  should  call  a  foolish  house,"  cried 
Nekhludof. 

"  Foolish  ?"  repeated  the  driver,  as  if  personally  attacked. 
"I  don't  know  what  you  mean.  It  gives  people  work. 
I  don't  call  that  foolish." 

"  Yes,  but  it  is  such  useless  work." 

"That  can't  be  so;  they  wouldn't  be  building  it  if  it 
were  of  no  use.  It  feeds  the  people,"  said  the  izvdstchik. 

Nekhludof  said  no  more.  The  wheels  made  such  a 
noise  on  the  pavement  that  it  was  difficult  to  hear  or  to 
make  himself  heard.  As  they  drew  near  the  jail,  the 


28  RESURRECTION 

izvostchik  turned  into  a  macadamized  road  where  it  was 
easier  to  talk,  and  went  on,  "  And  such  loads  of  people  are 
coming  into  town  nowadays."  He  turned  round  on  his 
seat  and  pointed  at  a  group  of  country  laborers  with 
saws,  hatchets,  sheepskin  coats,  and  sacks  slung  across 
their  backs. 

"Are  there  more  than  used  to  come  in  old  times?" 
asked  Nekhludof. 

"Well,  I  should  say  so!  There  is  no  comparison. 
There  are  so  many  applicants  for  every  place.  The 
masters  fling  them  to  and  fro  as  if  they  were  shavings. 
Every  place  is  crowded." 

"What's  the  reason  for  it?" 

"They've  multiplied  so  fast  there's  no  room  for  them." 

"But  what  of  that?  Why  don't  they  stay  where  they 
belong,  in  the  country?" 

"There's  no  work  for  them  in  the  country,  they've  got 
no  land." 

Nekhludof  felt  like  a  man  with  a  bruise  that  gets  all  the 
raps  that  are  going. 

"I  wonder  if  it  is  the  same  everywhere,"  he  thought  to 
himself,  and  began  to  question  the  driver  about  the  land 
in  his  village,  how  much  land  he  had  himself,  and  why  he 
was  living  in  the  city.  The  driver  seemed  eager  to  tell 
him  all  about  it. 

"There  are  three  of  us,"  he  said,  "and  not  more  than 
one  dessiatin  apiece.  I  have  a  father  and  brother  at  home 
and  another  brother  in  the  army.  They  manage,  but 
there  was  so  little  to  manage  that  my  brother  wanted  to  go 
to  Moscow." 

"Can't  you  possibly  rent  land?" 

"  Where  can  you  find  it  ?  The  masters  have  squandered 
theirs.  The  merchants  have  got  it  all  in  their  own 
hands.  You  can't  buy  it  from  them,  they  want  to  work  it 
themselves.  In  our  parts  it  is  a  Frenchman  who  owns  it. 
He  bought  it  from  our  old  master  and  he  won't  rent  any 
of  it,  and  that's  all  there  is  about  it.  What  Frenchman, 


RESURRECTION 


29 


you  ask?  Oh,  his  name  is  Dufar;  perhaps  you've  heard 
of  him.  He  makes  wigs  for  the  actors  at  the  Grand 
Theater.  That's  a  profitable  business  and  he's  grown 
rich.  He  bought  the  whole  estate  that  belonged  to  our 
lady  and  he  owns  us  too,  and  rides  us  as  he  pleases.  It's 
lucky  for  us  that  he's  a  pretty  good  sort  of  a  man.  But 
his  wife  is  a  Russian  and  a  brute  of  a  woman.  She  just 
robs  the  people,  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  us !  It's  dread 
ful.  .  .  .  But  here's  the  jail.  Where  shall  I  drive  in  ? 
I  don't  believe  they'll  let  you  in  at  the  main  entrance." 

XIII. 

WITH  a  sinking  heart  and  anxiety  about  Mdslova's 
present  condition,  added  to  the  sense  of  the  mysterious 
link  that  connected  them,  and  their  common  interests 
with  the  other  people  in  the  jail,  Nekhludof  rang  the  bell 
at  the  main  entrance.  The  warden  came  to  the  door,  and 
he  asked  where  he  should  find  Mdslova.  The  warden 
went  back  to  inquire,  and  returning  told  Nekhludof  that 
Maslova  was  in  the  hospital.  The  watchman  of  the  hos- 
pita  ,  a  kindly  old  man,  on  being  told  whom  Nekhludof 
wished  to  see,  showed  him  the  way  to  the  children's  ward. 
A  young  doctor  thoroughly  saturated  with  carbolic  acid 
came  out  into  the  corridor  and  asked  him  sternly  what 
he  wanted. 

This  doctor  was  very  friendly  to  the  patients,  always 
indulging  them,  and  the  result  was  that  conflicts  with 
prison  authorities  and  even  with  the  senior  physician  were 
but  too  common.  Now,  fearing  lest  Nekhludof  was  about 
to  ask  him  to  break  some  rule,  and  desiring  to  show  that 
he  made  no  distinction  between  persons,  he  pretended  to 
be  cross. 

"This  is  the  children's  ward;  there  are  no  women  in 
it,"  he  said. 

"Yes,  I  know,"  answered  Nekhlddof,  "but  there  is  an 
attendant  here  who  was  transferred  from  the  prison." 


30  RESURRECTION 

"  Yes,"  said  the  doctor,  "  there  are  two  of  them.  Which 
one  do  you  want  ?" 

"I  am  well  acquainted  with  one  called  Maslova,"  said 
Nekhludof;  "  she  is  the  woman  I  wish  to  see.  I  am  going 
to  Petersburg  to  enter  an  appeal  in  her  case  and  I  wanted 
to  give  her  this,"  taking  an  envelope  from  his  pocket. 
"It  only  contains  a  photograph,"  he  continued. 

"  Oh,  yes,  we  can  allow  that,"  replied  the  doctor,  molli 
fied,  and  turning  to  an  old  woman  who  wore  a  white  apron, 
he  bade  her  call  the  prison-nurse  Mdslova. 

"Please  take  a  seat,  or  perhaps  you  would  prefer  to  go 
to  the  reception  room." 

"Thank  you,"  said  Nekhludof,  and  availing  himself  of 
the  pleasing  change  in  the  doctor's  attitude  towards  him, 
he  asked  how  they  liked  Maslova  in  the  hospital. 

"Quite  well.  She  works  pretty  well,  considering  the 
conditions  of  her  life,"  answered  the  doctor.  "Here  she 
comes,"  he  added. 

An  old  woman  entered,  followed  by  Maslova,  who 
wore  a  striped  dress  and  a  white  apron.  Her  hair  was 
completely  hidden  under  a  three-cornered  kerchief.  When 
she  caught  sight  of  Nekhludof,  she  turned  scarlet,  paused 
irresolutely,  then,  with  downcast  eyes  and  frowning  brows, 
she  walked  along  the  strip  of  carpet  in  the  corridor  until 
she  reached  him.  When  actually  face  to  face  with  him, 
she  did  not  at  first  put  out  her  hand,  but  later  she  did 
shake  hands,  blushing  still  more  than  before.  Nekhludof 
had  not  seen  her  since  the  talk  they  had  had  together  when 
she  had  apologized  for  her  excitement,  and  he  had  ex 
pected  to  find  her  in  the  same  frame  of  mind.  But  she 
was  very  different  now.  Her  face  showed  self-restraint; 
she  seemed  bashful,  and  yet,  as  it  appeared  to  Nekhludof, 
in  a  way  unfriendly  to  him.  He  repeated  to  her  what  he 
had  told  the  doctor  about  his  intended  visit  to  Petersburg 
and  gave  her  the  envelope  with  the  photograph  he  had 
brought  from  Pandvo. 

"I  found  this  at  Panovo,"  he  said;  "it  is  a  homemade 


RESURRECTION  3x 

photograph.  I  thought  you  might  like  it.  Won't  you 
take  it?" 

Lifting  her  black  eyebrows,  she  gazed  at  him  in  surprise 
with  an  expression  in  her  squinting  eyes  that  seemed  to 
say,  "Now  I  wonder  what  this  may  mean." 

Silently  she  took  the  envelope  and  tucked  it  into  her 
apron. 

"I  saw  your  aunt  while  I  was  there,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"  Did  you  ?"  replied  the  girl  with  indifference. 

"Are  you  comfortable  here  ?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"Yes,  quite,"  she  said. 

"You  are  not  finding  it  too  hard  ?" 

"No,  but  I  am  not  quite  used  to  it  yet." 

"I  am  very  glad  for  you;  it  is  very  much  better  here 
than  there." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  '  there '  ?"  said  the  girl,  flush 
ing. 

"There,  in  the  prison,"  said  Nekhludof,  hastily. 

"In  what  way  ?"  asked  the  girl. 

"The  people  here  must  be  better,"  said  he. 

"There  are  plenty  of  good  people  there,"  she  said. 

"  I  have  been  looking  into  that  affair  of  the  Menshdf s, 
and  I  hope  that  they  will  be  set  at  liberty,"  said  Nekhlu 
dof. 

"God  grant!"  she  exclaimed;  "she  is  such  a  dear  old 
lady." 

"I  am  going  to  Petersburg  to-day.  Your  case  is  com 
ing  on  shortly,  and  I  hope  that  the  verdict  will  be  set 
aside." 

"Whether  it  is  or  not,  it  is  all  one  to  me  now,"  she 
answered. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  'now'  ?"  he  asked. 

"  Oh,  because "  she  began,  looking  up  into  his  face 

with  a  questioning  glance. 

Nekhludof  understood  the  words  and  the  glance  to 
mean  that  she  wanted  to  know  if  he  had  changed  his  mind 
about  accepting  her  refusal. 


32  RESURRECTION 

"I  do  not  know  why  you  are  indifferent,"  he  said. 
"  So  far  as  I  am  concerned  it  makes  no  difference  whether 
you  are  found  guilty  or  innocent.  In  any  case  I  am 
ready  to  keep  my  promise,"  he  said  firmly. 

She  lifted  her  head  and  her  black  squinting  eyes  rested 
for  a  moment  on  his  face  and  then  looked  beyond  him, 
while  her  countenance  beamed  with  joy;  but  her  next 
words  belied  the  look  in  her  eyes. 

"It's  no  use  for  you  to  say  that,"  she  exclaimed. 

"I  say  it  to  let  you  know." 

"We've  talked  this  matter  over  and  over  and  there's 
no  more  to  be  said,"  but  she  could  hardly  refrain  from 
smiling. 

There  was  a  noise  in  the  ward  and  the  voice  of  a  crying 
child  was  heard. 

"I  think  I  am  needed,"  she  said,  looking  anxiously 
behind  her. 

"Well,  then,  I'll  say  good-by,"  said  Nekhludof. 

She  pretended  not  to  see  his  outstretched  hand,  and 
turning  away  with  an  attempt  to  hide  her  triumph,  walked 
down  along  the  strip  of  carpet  in  the  corridor. 

"  I  wonder  what  is  going  on  in  her  mind  now,  what  she 
is  thinking  about  and  how  she  really  feels  ?  Is  she  testing 
me,  or  is  it  that  she  really  cannot  forgive  me  ?  Perhaps 
she  has  not  the  power  to  express  her  feelings  or  perhaps 
she  doesn't  care.  Has  she  softened  or  does  she  still  feel 
antagonistic  ?"  Nekhludof  asked  himself  all  these  ques 
tions  but  got  no  answer.  Still,  he  was  absolutely  sure  of 
one  thing:  the  girl  had  changed  and  the  transformation 
now  going  on  in  her  soul  was  an  important  one.  It  united 
her  not  only  to  himself  but  also  to  Him  in  whose  name 
the  change  had  been  accomplished.  It  was  this  union 
that  had  thrown  him  into  a  state  of  joyous  exaltation  and 
tender  humility. 

When  Maslova  went  back  to  the  ward,  where  eight  chil 
dren's  beds  were  standing,  the  nurse  bade  her  make  these 
beds.  Stooping  to  reach  the  sheet  she  slipped  and  almost 


RESURRECTION  33 

fell  to  the  floor,  and  when  a  convalescent  boy  with  a  band 
age  round  his  neck  who  had  been  watching  her  began  to 
laugh,  she  could  no  longer  restrain  herself.  Seating  her 
self  on  the  edge  of  the  bed  she  burst  into  a  peal  of  laughter 
so  contagious  that  several  of  the  children  joined  in  also, 
and  the  nurse  exclaimed  angrily: 

"Don't  yell  like  that!  Do  you  think  you  are  in  the 
place  you  came  from  ?  Go  fetch  the  dinners." 

Mdslova  stopped  laughing  and  taking  the  dishes  went 
where  she  was  bidden,  exchanging  on  her  way  one  glance 
with  the  bandaged  boy,  who  was  forbidden  to  laugh, 
whereupon  she  snickered  again. 

Several  times  when  she  happened  to  be  alone  during  the 
day,  Mdslova  took  the  card  out  of  the  envelope  and  admired 
it.  But  it  was  not  until  evening  when  her  duties  were 
over  and  she  was  alone  in  the  room  which  she  shared  with 
a  nurse  that  she  slipped  it  from  the  envelope  and  sat  down 
to  enjoy  it.  For  a  long  time  she  never  lifted  her  eyes, 
caressing  every  detail  of  the  faces  and  the  costumes,  the 
balcony  step,  the  shrubbery  which  served  as  a  background 
for  the  faces  of  the  aunts,  as  well  as  his  face  and  her  own. 
As  she  gazed  at  the  faded  yellow  photograph,  she  could 
not  help  admiring  the  beauty  of  her  young  face  with  the 
hair  waving  around  the  forehead.  She  was  so  absorbed 
that  she  did  not  notice  her  room-mate  when  she  entered 
the  room. 

"What's  that?  Did  he  give  that  to  you?"  asked  the 
stout,  good-natured  nurse,  stooping  over  the  picture.  "  Is 
that  you  ?" 

"Who  else  could  it  be?"  asked  Mdslova,  lifting  her 
head. 

"And  who  is  that?  Is  that  he?  And  is  that  his 
mother?" 

"No,  that's  his  aunt.  Would  you  have  known  me?" 
asked  Mdslova. 

"  No,  I  should  never  have  imagined  it  was  you.     You 

VOL.   II.— 3 


34  RESURRECTION 

have  an  entirely  different  face  there.  It  must  have  been 
taken  ten  years  ago." 

"  Not  ten  years,  but  a  lifetime,"  cried  Mdslova,  and  all 
her  animation  died  away,  her  face  grew  gloomy,  and  a 
deep  wrinkle  came  between  her  eyebrows. 

"  But  it  was  not  a  hard-working  life,  was  it  ?"  asked 
the  nurse. 

"No,  it  wasn't  a  hard-working  life,  but  a  convict  leads 
a  happier  one." 

"  What  do  your  mean  ?" 

"I  mean  that  from  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  till  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  it  was " 

"Then  why  don't  women  give  it  up?" 

"  They  want  to  give  it  up,  goodness  knows,  but  how  can 
they  ?  Oh,  what's  the  use  of  talking  about  it  ?"  shrieked 
Maslova,  springing  to  her  feet  and  flinging  the  picture  into 
the  table  drawer.  Unable  to  restrain  her  tears  of  rage 
she  ran  out  of  the  room,  banging  the  door  behind  her. 
While  she  had  been  gazing  at  the  picture  she  felt  just 
as  she  used  to  feel  at  that  age  and  dreamed  of  all  her 
past  happiness  and  of  how  happy  she  would  still  be  with 
him  even  now.  Her  room-mate's  words  had  reminded 
her  of  what  she  had  become  and  of  the  horror  of  that  old 
life,  which  even  then  she  had  recognized  but  would  not 
admit  to  herself. 

Now  she  recalled  those  hideous  nights,  especially  one 
during  carnival  week.  She  remembered  that  she  wore  a 
red,  low-necked  gown,  covered  with  wine-stains.  A  red 
bow  adorned  her  disheveled  hair.  In  the  interval  between 
two  dances  she  had  dismissed  her  guests.  It  was  about 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  she  was  feeling  particu 
larly  weak,  exhausted,  and  tipsy.  She  took  a  seat  behind 
the  thin,  pimpled,  bony  woman  who  accompanied  the 
violinist  and  began  to  complain  about  her  hard  life.  She 
remembered  how  the  pianist  had  said  that  she  was  tired  of 
her  life  too,  and  presently  her  mate  Clara  had  joined  them, 
and  all  three  decided  to  give  up  that  kind  of  life.  They 


RESURRECTION  35 

were  just  about  to  separate  when  the  voices  of  the  drunken 
guests  resounded  through  the  room.  The  violinist  played 
the  ritournelle,  and  the  pianist  pounded  on  the  piano  the 
accompaniment  of  a  jolly  Russian  song  introduced  into 
the  first  figure  of  the  quadrille.  A  short  man  with  a 
dark  complexion,  wearing  a  swallow-tail  coat  and  a  white 
tie,  caught  her  in  his  tipsy  embrace,  and  another  stout, 
bearded  fellow,  in  the  same  attire — they  had  come  from  a 
ball — seized  Clara  and  together  they  began  whirling  and 
shouting  and  drinking.  .  .  . 

And  this  was  the  sort  of  thing  that  had  gone  on  for 
three  years !  How  could  any  one  help  changing  ?  And 
it  was  he  who  began  it.  And  again  the  old  furious  rage 
was  let  loose  in  her  soul  and  she  longed  to  express  it.  She 
was  sorry  that  she  hadn't  improved  her  opportunity  to  tell 
him  that  she  knew  the  sort  of  man  he  was,  and  wasn't  such 
a  fool  as  to  be  caught  in  his  snare  a  second  time,  that  she 
didn't  mean  to  let  him  use  her  spiritually  as  he  had 
used  her  physically  and  that  she  would  not  accept  his 
generosity. 

Pity  for  herself  and  rage  against  Nekhludof  had  thrown 
her  into  such  a  state  of  nervous  excitement  that  she 
longed  for  wine.  Had  she  been  in  the  jail  instead  of  the 
hospital  she  would  not  have  hesitated  to  break  her  prom 
ise  and  drink  the  wine.  The  only  way  to  obtain  it  here 
would  be  to  ask  the  doctor's  assistant,  and  she  dreaded  to 
speak  to  him  because  he  had  already  annoyed  her  by  his 
attention.  She  had  come  to  hate  the  sight  of  a  man.  After 
sitting  a  long  time  on  a  bench  in  the  corridor  she  went 
back  to  her  room,  and  making  no  response  to  her  room 
mate's  talk  she  wept  for  a  long  time  over  her  ruined  life. 

XIV. 

NEKHLtJDOF  had  four  business  affairs  to  look  after  in 
Petersburg:  Mdslova's  appeal  to  the  Senate,  the  case  of 
Fed6sya  Birukova  in  the  Committee  of  Petitions  at  the 


36  RESURRECTION 

request  of  Vera  Bogoduhovsky,  another  case  in  the  De 
partment  of  Gendarmes  or  in  the  Third  Department,1  for 
the  liberation  of  Shustova,  and  a  petition  from  a  mother 
who  had  begged  him  to  visit  her  son  who  was  confined  in 
the  Fortress.  These  two  cases  he  considered  as  one. 
Ve*ra  Bogoduhovsky  had  also  written  to  him  about  this 
latter  case.  The  fourth  was  the  case  of  the  Sectarians 
who  were  to  be  sent  to  the  Caucasus  for  expounding  the 
Gospel.  He  meant  to  look  into  this  case,  not  only  because 
of  his  promise  to  them,  but  for  his  own  satisfaction  as  well. 

Since  his  last  visit  to  Maslennikof  and  his  stay  in  the 
country  some  time  later,  he  had  conceived  such  a  disgust 
for  the  circle  he  had  lived  in,  that  he  made  up  his  mind 
to  avoid  it  henceforth  so  far  as  he  was  able.  He  felt 
sure  that  the  men  and  women  born  in  luxurious  homes 
were  either  indifferent  or  unconscious  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  millions  of  men  who  struggled  in  poverty  for  the 
benefit  of  the  so-called  upper  class.  He  felt  ill  at  ease  in 
their  presence,  and  yet  the  habits  of  his  former  life  and 
naturally  his  family  connections  and  friends  all  contrib 
uted  to  restrain  him  from  breaking  away  entirely.  But  in 
order  to  be  of  practical  service  to  Maslova,  not  to  speak 
of  all  the  other  victims  he  was  eager  to  help,  he  knew  that 
the  influence  of  the  high  and  mighty  ones  of  his  world  was 
absolutely  indispensable.  He  must  force  himself  to  seek 
aid  from  men  for  whom  he  felt  no  esteem  and  who  even 
aroused  his  wrath  and  contempt. 

When  he  reached  Petersburg  he  went  to  the  house  of 
Countess  Tscharsky,  his  maternal  aunt,  wife  of  a  former 
Minister  of  State,  and  plunged  into  the  whirlpool  of  that 
aristocratic  society  which  had  become  so  oppressive  to  him. 
What  else  could  he  do?  If  he  had  gone  to  a  hotel  it 
would  have  vexed  his  aunt,  and  she  was  too  influential  a 
person  to  be  neglected.  He  needed  her  help  in  those 
affairs  he  was  so  eager  to  promote. 

"  What  are  all  the  marvelous  tales  we  hear  about  your 

1  Secret  Police.  —  TR. 


RESURRECTION  37 

goings-on?"  cried  Countess  Katerma  Iv&novna  as  she 
offered  him  coffee  soon  after  he  entered  the  room.  "  Vous 
posez  pour  un  Howard.  You  are  visiting  prisons  and 
helping  criminals.  You  are  trying  to  improve  the  world." 

"No,  I've  no  expectation  of  doing  that." 

"Well,  that's  a  good  thing.  But  didn't  I  hear  there 
was  some  romance  connected  with  it?  Do  tell  me  all 
about  it." 

Whereupon  Nekhludof  described  his  relations  with 
Maslova  exactly  as  they  were. 

"Oh,  yes,  I  remember.  Poor  Helene  told  me  something 
about  that  affair.  It  was  when  you  were  living  with  those 
old  ladies  who  wanted  to  marry  you  to  a  ward  of  theirs." 
Countess  Katerma  Ivdnovna  had  a  way  of  looking  down 
on  all  the  kinsfolk  of  Nekhludof's  father.  "  So  that's  the 
girl,  is  it?  Rile  est  encore  jolie?" 

Aunt  Katerina  Ivanovna  was  a  woman  of  sixty,  jolly, 
robust,  energetic,  and  talkative.  She  was  tall  and  stout, 
and  a  distinctly  perceptible  black  mustache  adorned  her 
upper  lip.  Nekhludof  was  fond  of  her.  When  he  was  a 
small  boy  her  joviality  and  energy  had  always  made  him 
feel  happy. 

"No,  ma  tante,  all  that  is  over;  all  I  want  now  is  to 
help  her.  It  is  I  who  am  to  blame  for  her  sad  fate.  She 
has  been  unjustly  sentenced,  and  I  must  do  everything 
I  can  to  help  her." 

"But  somebody  told  me  that  you  wanted  to  marry 
her." 

"So  I  did,  but  she  refused  me." 

Katerina  Ivdnovna  with  uplifted  brows  and  downcast 
eyes  listened  to  her  nephew  in  silence  and  amazement. 
Suddenly  her  expression  changed,  and  with  a  look  of 
pleasure  she  exclaimed: 

"  Well,  you  must  be  a  fool!  It's  lucky  that  she  is  wiser 
than  you.  .  .  .  And  you  really  would  have  married 
her?" 

"Why,  of  course  I  would." 


38  RESURRECTION 

"After  the  life  she  has  led ?" 

"All  the  more  reason  why  I  should  marry  her,  since  it 
was  my  own  fault." 

"  No,  you  are  simply  a  goose,  that's  all,  a  terrible  goose, 
and  that's  the  very  reason  why  I  love  you  because  you  are 
a  goose."  She  repeated  the  word  "goose"  as  especially 
descriptive  of  the  mental  and  moral  state  of  her  nephew. 
"  I  will  tell  you  how  this  affair  can  be  settled.  Aline  is  in 
charge  of  a  wonderful  Asylum  for  Magdalenes.  I  went  to 
visit  them  once.  Gracious  1  I  thought  I  should  never  be 
clean  again.  But  Aline  is  in  it,  corps  et  time.  It  is  the 
very  place  for  that  girl  of  yours.  If  anybody  can  reform 
her,  it  will  be  Aline." 

"  But  she  has  already  been  condemned  to  hard  labor," 
said  Nekhliidof,  "and  I  have  come  here  to  get  the  verdict 
set  aside.  This  is  the  chief  business  that  I  have  with 
you." 

"Indeed!     Well,  tell  me  where  did  the  case  go?" 

"To  the  Senate." 

"  To  the  Senate  ?  Why,  that's  where  my  dear  cousin 
Lgvushka  is.  But  he's  in  the  Department  of  Heraldry. 
I  don't  know  any  of  the  Senators  themselves.  Heaven 
only  knows  who  they  are,  and  some  —  Germans  I  fancy, 
Gd,  F£  D£,  tout  V alphabet,  or  every  variety  of  Ivanofs, 
Seme*nofs,  Nikitins,  or  Ivanenkos,  Simonenkos,  Niki- 
tdnkos  pour  varier.  Des  gens  de  Vautre  monde.  But  I'll 
speak  to  my  husband.  He  knows  them.  He  knows  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  But  you'd  better  explain  it 
to  him.  He  never  understands  anything  I  tell  him.  No 
matter  how  hard  I  try  to  make  things  clear,  he  says  he 
does  not  understand.  Oest  un  parti  pris.  Everybody 
else  understands  me,  but  he  never  does." 

Just  then  a  lackey  in  knee-breeches  brought  in  a  letter 
on  a  silver  tray. 

"It's  from  Aline.  You'll  have  the  chance  of  hearing 
Kiesewetter." 

"Who  is  Kiesewetter?" 


RESURRECTION  39 

"  Kiesewetter  ?  You  will  find  out  for  yourself.  He 
speaks  with  such  eloquence  that  the  most  hardened  crimi 
nals  fall  on  their  knees  in  tears  and  repentance. " 

Countess  Katerina  Iva"novna,  however  inconsistent  it 
may  appear  with  her  temperament  and  character,  was  a 
devout  adherent  of  the  doctrine  which  teaches  that  Re 
demption  is  the  essence  of  Christianity.  She  used  to  go 
to  all  the  meetings  where  this,  then  fashionable,  doctrine 
was  expounded,  and  held  meetings  in  her  own  house. 
But  although  this  doctrine  excluded  all  ceremonies,  ikons, 
and  even  sacraments,  there  was  not  a  room  in  the  Count 
ess's  home  without  its  ikon.  Ikons  were  hung  above  the 
bed,  and  she  continued  to  obey  all  the  laws  of  the  Church 
so  far  as  its  ceremonies  were  concerned  and  saw  no  incon 
sistency  in  this. 

"I  wish  your  Magdalene  could  hear  him;  he  would  be 
sure  to  convert  her.  Now  don't  you  forget  to  come  in 
to-night.  He  is  a  very  remarkable  man." 

"But,  ma  tante,  I  haven't  a  shadow  of  interest." 

"  But  I  assure  you  it  is  interesting.  Now  what  else  can 
I  do  for  you?  Videz  votre  sac" 

"I  have  another  case  in  the  Fortress." 

"The  Fortress!  Well,  I  can  give  you  a  note  to  Kriegs- 
muth.  C'est  un  ires  brave  homme.  You  know  him.  He 
was  a  comrade  of  your  father.  II  donne  dans  le  spiritisme, 
but  that's  no  matter,  he  is  a  very  kind  man.  What  is  it 
you  want  there  ?" 

"  I  want  to  get  permission  for  a  mother  to  visit  her  son, 
who  is  imprisoned  there;  but  I  was  told  that  Kriegsmuth 
has  nothing  to  do  with  that." 

"I  am  not  fond  of  Tcherviansky,  but  he  is  Mariette's 
husband.  We  can  ask  her.  She  will  do  it  for  me.  Elle 
est  trbs  gentille" 

"Then  I  want  to  present  a  petition  in  behalf  of  a 
woman  who  has  been  in  prison  several  months  and  has  no 
idea  why." 

"  Oh,  I  guess  she  knows  well  enough,  they  usually  do, 


40  RESURRECTION 

I  think  those  short-haired  women  get  about  what  they  de 
serve." 

"I  don't  know  whether  they  deserve  it  or  not,  but  I 
do  know  how  they  suffer,"  said  Nekhludof.  "  You  are  a 
Christian  and  believe  in  the  Gospel,  and  yet  you  have  no 
mercy." 

"  That  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  case.  The  Gospel  is 
one  thing  and  what  we  despise  is  another.  It  would  be 
worse  if  I  pretended  to  love  Nihilists,  especially  short- 
haired  ones,  when  to  tell  the  truth  I  really  hate  them." 

"Why  do  you  hate  them?" 

"Do  you  ask  me  why,  after  March  the  first?"1 

"But  they  didn't  all  take  part  on  that  day." 

"Never  mind.  Let  them  keep  away  from  what  does 
not  concern  them.  It's  not  a  woman's  business." 

"But  here  is  Marie tte — you  seem  to  think  that  she 
can  attend  to  the  business." 

"  Mariette  ?  Marie  tte  is  Mariette.  Who  knows  about 
this  woman — some  Haltupkin  who  wants  to  manage 
everybody  ?" 

"No,  not  to  manage,  but  to  help  the  people." 

"We  don't  need  their  help.  We  know  very  well  who 
needs  help  and  who  doesn't." 

"  But  the  people  are  suffering.  I  have  just  come  from 
the  country.  Do  you  call  it  right  that  the  peasants  should 
work  like  slaves  and  never  get  enough  to  eat,  while  we  are 
living  in  luxury?"  said  Nekhludof,  involuntarily  beguiled 
by  his  aunt's  good  nature  into  confiding  his  thoughts  to 
her. 

"Well,"  she  said,  "would  you  like  it  if  I  worked  hard 
and  had  nothing  to  eat?" 

"No,  I  should  not,"  said  Nekhludof;  "I  only  want  to 
feel  sure  that  every  one  who  works  gets  a  chance  to  eat." 

His  aunt  again  fixed  her  eyes  on  him  with  an  expression 
of  curiosity.  " Mon  cher,  vous  finirez  mal"  she  said. 

"But  why?" 

1  The  day  of  the  assassination  of  Emperor  Alexander  II.  —  T*. 


RESURRECTION  41 

Just  then  a  broad-shouldered  general  entered  the  room. 
It  was  Tscharsky,  former  Minister  of  State,  husband  of 
the  Countess. 

"Ah,  how  are  you,  Dmitri,"  he  said,  presenting  his 
clean-shaven  cheek  for  a  kiss.  "When  did  you  arrive?" 

He  kissed  his  wife's  forehead  without  a  word. 

"  Non,  il  est  impayable,"  said  the  Countess  to  her  hus 
band,  "he  wants  me  to  be  a  washerwoman  and  live  on 
potatoes!  He  is  a  great  fool,  but  I  wish  you  would  help 
him  all  the  same.  A  perfect  idiot,"  she  went  on  with  no 
change  of  tone.  "Have  you  heard  about  Madame 
Kame*nsky?  They  say  that  she  is  in  utter  despair;  they 
have  fears  for  her  life,  and  you  must  call  there." 

"Yes,  that  is  terrible,"  said  her  husband. 

"Now,"  she  said,  turning  to  Nekhliidof,  "you'd  bet 
ter  go  and  tell  him  all  about  your  cases  while  I  write  my 
letters." 

Nekhliidof  had  barely  crossed  the  threshold  be 
tween  the  rooms  when  she  called  after  him: 

"I  suppose  I  am  to  write  to  Mariette?" 

"Please  do,  ma  tante" 

"Then  I'll  leave  a  blank  space  for  you  to  tell  her  about 
your  short-haired  women,  and  she  will  give  orders  to  her 
husband;  he'll  be  sure  to  do  what  she  wishes.  You 
must  not  think  that  I  am  unkind.  But  your  protegees 
certainly  are  disgusting  creatures.  Mais  je  ne  leur  v&ux 
pas  de  mal,  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  them.  You  may  go 
now,  but  be  sure  to  come  home  this  evening  and  hear  Kie- 
sewetter.  We  will  all  pray  together,  fa  vousfera  beaucoup 
de  bien.  I  know  that  Helene  and  the  rest  of  you  are  be> 
hind  the  times.  Au  revoir." 

XV. 

COUNT  IVAN  MIKHXILOVITCH  was  an  ex- Minister  of 
State  and  a  man  of  strong  convictions.  From  his  earliest 
youth  the  Count  had  believed  it  as  natural  for  him  to  eat 


42  RESURRECTION 

delicate  food  prepared  for  him  by  first-class  cooks,  to  wear 
expensive  clothes,  to  drive  fast  horses,  as  it  was  for  the 
birds  to  feed  on  worms  and  be  covered  with  down  and 
feathers,  and  fly  to  and  fro  in  the  air, — and  he  naturally 
expected  it.  Moreover,  Count  Ivan  believed  that  the 
higher  his  salary  and  the  more  numerous  his  decorations 
from  the  Government,  including  diamond  insignia — and 
the  more  frequent  his  intercourse  with  influential  men 
and  women,  the  better  for  him.  In  comparison  with  these 
fundamental  dogmas  everything  else  in  the  world  was 
stupid  and  uninteresting.  It  made  very  little  difference  to 
him  how  other  things  went.  And  in  accordance  with 
this  creed  of  his,  Ivan  Mikhailovitch  lived  for  forty  years, 
when  he  became  Minister  of  State. 

The  chief  qualities  which  contributed  to  his  success  in 
winning  an  appointment  were,  in  the  first  place,  his  ability 
to  comprehend  the  meaning  of  legal  documents  already 
written  and  of  writing  others,  free  from  orthographic 
errors  and  intelligible  to  other  people;  in  the  second  place, 
he  was  a  man  of  dignified  presence  able  to  impose  on  the 
public  by  his  air  of  majesty  and  inaccessibility,  although 
in  case  of  need  he  was  quite  capable  of  assuming  an  air  of 
almost  abject  servility.  And  in  the  third  place,  having  no 
real  principles  for  his  guidance,  either  in  private  or  public 
life,  he  could  agree  or  disagree,  just  as  best  suited  his 
immediate  purpose.  Whether  his  private  acts  were 
moral  or  immoral,  whether  great  good  or  great  evil  would 
result  from  them  for  the  Russian  Empire  and  the  rest  of 
Europe,  was  a  matter  of  the  utmost  indifference  to  him. 
He  only  tried  to  save  appearances  and  not  to  be  too 
plainly  inconsistent. 

When  he  became  Minister  of  State  all  those  who  were 
dependent  on  him — his  family,  his  friends,  and  many 
others,  —  all,  himself  included,  believed  him  to  be  a  very 
wise  statesman.  But  as  time  went  on  and  he  had  accom 
plished  nothing  and  had  shown  no  ability  in  any  direction, 
and  when  in  obedience  to  the  law  which  governs  the  strug- 


RESURRECTION  43 

gle  for  existence  other  men  who  had  learned  to  under 
stand  legal  documents  and  to  write  them,  unprincipled 
representatives,  and  officials  crowded  him  out,  it  became 
clear  to  all  the  world  that  so  far  from  being  a  man  of  un 
usual  intelligence,  his  capacities  and  his  culture  were  be 
neath  the  average,  and  he  saw  himself  obliged  to  resign. 
In  fact  he  was  a  man  whose  views  were  about  on  a  par 
with  those  of  the  editors  of  the  Conservative  newspapers 
and  there  was  nothing  to  distinguish  him  from  any  other 
half-educated,  self-confident  official,  from  those  very  men 
who  had  crowded  him  out.  He  himself  realized  that  this 
was  true,  but  his  conviction  that  he  deserved  a  large  yearly 
income  never  changed.  This  idea  of  his  was  so  firmly 
rooted  it  never  occurred  to  any  one  to  dispute  it,  and  every 
year  he  received,  partly  from  a  pension,  partly  as  salary  — 
as  a  member  of  the  highest  State  institutions  and  as  chair 
man  of  different  committees  and  commissions  —  tens  of 
thousands  of  roubles.  Moreover,  each  year  he  acquired 
new  privileges  —  and  he  prized  them  highly  —  of  adding 
new  galoons  to  his  shoulders  or  his  trousers,  as  well 
as  ribbons  and  enameled  stars  to  be  worn  under  and 
over  his  dress-suit.  As  the  result  of  all  this  Count  Iv£n 
Mikhdilovitch  was  highly  connected. 

Count  Ivan  Mikhailovitch  now  listened  to  Nekhludof 
as  he  had  listened  to  his  secretary.  Having  heard  all  he 
had  to  say,  he  said  he  would  give  him  two  letters,  one  to 
Senator  Wolf  in  the  Department  of  Appeals.  "  They  say 
all  sorts  of  things  about  him,  but  at  all  events  il  est  un 
homme  trls  comme  il  faut,  and  he  is  under  obligations  to 
me  and  will  do  what  he  can."  The  other  letter  was  to 
an  influential  person  in  the  Committee  of  Petitions.  The 
case  of  Feddsya  Biruk6va,  as  Nekhludof  reported  it  to 
him,  seemed  to  interest  him  very  much,  and  when  Nekhlti- 
dof  told  that  he  wanted  to  write  to  the  Empress  about  it,  he 
agreed  that  it  would  be  a  good  plan  and  that  he  himself 
might  speak  of  it  at  Court  if  a  good  chance  presented 
itself;  still,  he  couldn't  promise.  The  petition  would 


44  RESURRECTION 

better  be  sent  in.  But  if  he  were  invited  to  a  "Petit 
Comite"  l  on  Thursday,  he  would  probably  tell  it. 

Taking  both  these  letters,  and  his  aunt's  note  to  Mari- 
ette,  Nekhludof  set  forth  on  his  errands. 

He  went  first  to  Mariette's.  He  remembered  her  first 
as  a  young  girl,  the  daughter  of  an  impoverished  but 
aristocratic  family,  and  he  knew  that  she  had  married  a 
man  who  had  made  a  career  for  himself,  but  who  did  not 
enjoy  a  good  reputation.  Indeed,  very  bad  things  had 
been  said  of  him,  and  Nekhludof  could  never  endure  to 
ask  a  favor  from  a  man  he  didn't  respect.  In  these  cases 
he  was  wont  to  hesitate  for  a  time,  and  though  he  usually 
decided  to  ask,  it  was  always  against  his  principles.  His 
position  as  a  petitioner  in  a  class  that  he  had  ceased  to 
regard  as  his  own,  was  awkward  for  him,  because  they 
still  looked  upon  him  as  one  of  themselves,  the  more  so, 
as  he  invariably  fell  into  the  frivolous  and  immoral  way 
of  speech  that  prevailed  among  them.  He  had  that  very 
moment,  at  the  house  of  his  aunt  Katerlna  Ivanovna,  imi 
tated  her  light  and  playful  figure  of  speech. 

Petersburg,  where  he  had  not  been,  for  a  long  time, 
always  made  him  physically  braced  but  spiritually  weak 
ened. 

Everything  was  so  clean  and  comfortable,  so  well 
arranged  and  the  people  so  easy-going,  that  it  made  every 
thing  seem  as  it  should  be.  A  fine-looking,  clean,  and 
civil  izvdstchik  drove  him  past  fine-looking,  clean,  and 
civil  policemen  along  well-watered  pavements  and  beauti 
ful  clean  houses,  till  he  came  to  the  one  where  Mariette 
lived. 

At  the  entrance  stood  a  carriage  to  which  a  pair  of 
English  horses  with  blinders  and  a  fine  harness  were  at 
tached;  an  English-looking  coachman  in  livery,  wearing 
side  whiskers,  sat  on  the  box  holding  his  whip  in  a  stately 
fashion.  Inside  the  vestibule  stood  a  door-keeper  in  an 
uncommonly  fresh  uniform,  a  footman  with  carefully 

1  Informal  evening  at  the  Palace. — TR. 


RESURRECTION  45 

combed  side-whiskers  and  a  still  more  elaborately  braided 
uniform,  and  an  orderly  on  duty,  also  in  a  new  uniform. 

"  Not  at  home.  The  general  is  not  receiving.  He  and 
her  Excellency  are  going  out  directly." 

Nekhludof  gave  Countess  Katerma  Vassllievna's  note 
to  the  door-keeper  and  taking  out  a  visiting  card  he  ap 
proached  the  table  where  the  visitors'  book  lay,  and  was 
beginning  to  write  his  regrets,  when  the  coachman  went 
towards  the  staircase,  the  door-keeper  went  out  and 
shouted  "  Ready,"  and  the  orderly  straightened  himself, 
with  his  hands  held  motionless  by  his  sides,  gazing  at  a 
small  and  slender  lady  who  was  hurrying  downstairs  at 
a  pace  that  could  hardly  be  considered  dignified  in  a  per 
son  of  her  social  rank. 

Mariette  wore  a  large  hat  with  a  plume,  a  black  gown, 
a  black  mantle,  and  black  gloves.  Her  face  was  hidden 
by  her  veil.  On  seeing  Nekhludof  she  threw  back  her 
veil,  showing  a  sweet  face  with  brilliant  eyes.  She  looked 
at  him  for  an  instant,  then  in  a  gay  and  cheerful  voice  she 
exclaimed  : 

"Oh,  it  is  Prince  Dmitri  Ivanovitch,  I  ought  to  have 
recognized " 

"You  even  remember  my  name?" 

"  Of  course  I  do.  Sister  and  I  used  to  be  in  love  with 
you."  She  said  this  in  French.  "But  how  you  have 
changed!  I  wish  I  were  not  going  out,"  she  added 
irresolutely  and  looking  at  the  clock  on  the  wall.  "  But 
I  am  afraid  I  must  because  there  are  prayers  for  the  dead 
at  Madam  Kame*nsky's  house.  She  is  in  a  fearful  state  of 
mind." 

"  And  what  has  happened  to  her  ?" 

"  Why,  haven't  you  heard  about  the  death  of  her  son  ? 
He  was  killed  in  a  duel.  He  fought  with  Pozen.  He  was 
an  only  son,  and  it  is  a  terrible  calamity.  His  mother 
is  prostrated." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  did  hear  about  that!" 

"I  wish  you  could  come  to-morrow  or  perhaps  this 


46  RESURRECTION 

evening,"  she  said,  as  she  tripped  lightly  towards  the 
door. 

"I  can  come  to-night,"  he  replied,  escorting  her  to  the 
carriage.  "  I  have  a  certain  piece  of  work  on  which  you 
can  help  me,"  he  went  on,  gazing  at  the  span  of  bays,  now 
drawing  up  towards  the  entrance. 

"What  is  that?" 

"You  have  my  aunt's  note,  that  contains  all  the  ex 
planations;  you'll  find  it  all  here,"  handing  her  a  narrow 
envelope  with  a  coronet. 

"  Yes,  I  know  that  Countess  Katerina  Ivdnovna  thinks 
that  I  can  influence  my  husband  in  matters  of  business. 
She  is  quite  mistaken.  I  can  do  nothing  of  the  sort  and 
I  hate  to  interfere.  But  of  course  for  you  or  the  Countess, 
I  will  break  my  rules.  What  is  it  about  ?"  she  went  on  as 
her  small,  tightly  gloved  hand  vainly  struggled  to  find  her 
pocket. 

"An  invalid  girl  has  been  imprisoned,  and  she  is  not 
guilty." 

"What  is  her  name?" 

"Lydia  Shustova.     You'll  find  it  all  stated  inside." 

"  I'll  try  to  do  all  I  can,"  she  said,  and  stepping  lightly 
into  the  softly  upholstered  phaeton  with  its  lustrous 
splashguards  glistening  in  the  sun,  she  opened  her  parasol. 
The  footman  climbed  on  the  box  and  signaled  to  the 
coachman  to  start.  But  the  carriage  barely  started  when 
she  touched  the  coachman's  back  with  her  parasol  and  the 
high-bred  English  mares  stood  quivering,  stepping  from 
one  foot  to  another  and  curbing  their  handsome  heads. 

"But  remember  you  are  coming  to  see  me  and  —  dis 
interestedly,"  she  said  with  that  smile  of  hers  whose  power 
she  so  well  knew;  and  then,  the  play  being  ended,  the 
curtain  fell,  -—  that  is,  she  drew  down  her  veil.  "  You  may 
go  on  now,"  she  said,  touching  the  coachman  again  with 
her  parasol. 

Nekhliidof  lifted  his  hat.  The  thoroughbred  mares, 
snorting,  struck  their  hoofs  on  the  pavement  and  the  car- 


RESURRECTION  47 

riage  rolled  swiftly  away,  its  rubber  tires  bounding  from 
time  to  time  over  the  inequalities  of  the  pavement. 


XVI. 

RECALLING  the  smiles  he  had  exchanged  with  Marietta, 
Nekhludof  shook  his  head  at  himself.  "  I  shall  be  drawn 
in  with  these  people  before  I  realize  what  I  am  doing." 
That  is  the  worst  of  seeking  favor  at  the  hands  of  those 
one  cannot  respect,  it  gives  one  a  sense  of  double  dealing 
that  is  fatal  to  one's  self-respect. 

In  order  that  no  time  might  be  wasted,  he  carefully 
considered  his  route  and  decided  to  go  first  to  the  Senate. 
He  was  shown  into  the  office,  a  stately  apartment  where 
many  extremely  courteous  and  neat-looking  clerks  were 
seated.  Maslova's  petition  had  been  entered  and  Nekhlu 
dof  was  informed  it  was  already  in  the  hands  of  Senator 
Wolf,  the  man  to  whom  his  uncle  had  given  him  a  letter. 
Although  the  Senate  was  to  hold  a  session  this  week, 
Mdslova's  case  would  hardly  be  expected  to  come  before 
it.  One  of  the  clerks  suggested  that  if  a  special  request 
were  made  there  was  a  chance  that  something  might  be 
done  about  it  on  Wednesday. 

While  Nekhludof  stood  waiting  in  the  office,  he  again 
heard  talk  about  the  duel  which  was  interesting  all  Peters 
burg  and  learned  the  details  of  the  killing  of  young 
Kame'nsky.  It  seems  that  a  group  of  officers  had  been 
eating  oysters  in  a  shop  and  as  usual  drinking  freely. 
One  man  made  some  deprecatory  speech  about  Kamen- 
sky's  regiment.  Kame'nsky  called  him  a  liar,  whereupon 
the  other  gave  Kame'nsky  a  blow.  The  next  day  they 
fought  with  pistols  and  his  opponent's  bullet  entered 
Kame'nsky's  abdomen.  In  two  hours  he  was  dead. 
The  murderer  and  his  seconds  were  arrested  and  sent  to 
the  guardhouse,  but  it  was  said  that  they  would  probably 
be  set  free  in  a  couple  of  weeks. 

NekhMdof  drove  from  the  Senate  directly  to  the  Com- 


48  RESURRECTION 

mittee  of  Petitions  to  meet  Baron  Vorobydf,  an  influential 
official  who  occupied  magnificent  apartments  in  a  house 
belonging  to  the  Crown.  Here  the  door-keeper  and  foot 
man  told  him  that  the  Baron  could  only  be  seen  on  recep 
tion  days.  At  present  he  was  with  his  Majesty,  and  that  he 
would  again  have  to  make  a  report  on  the  following  day. 
Nekhludof  left  his  letter  and  went  to  Senator  Wolf. 
Wolf  had  just  finished  lunch  and  was  pacing  up  and  down 
the  room,  smoking  the  cigar  by  which  he  helped  his  diges 
tion.  Vladfmir  Vassilievitch  was  indeed  un  homme  tres 
comme  ilfaut.  And  he  felt  prouder  of  this  attribute  than 
of  any  other.  From  this  sublime  attitude  he  looked  down 
on  the  rest  of  the  world.  Why  should  he  not,  since  it 
was  to  his  fine  presence  that  he  owed  the  brilliant  career 
which  he  had  coveted,  that  he  had  enriched  himself  by  his 
marriage,  and  by  his  own  exertions  had  obtained  the  post 
of  Senator  and  an  income  of  18,000  roubles  a  year?  He 
considered  himself  not  only  un  homme  iris  comme  il  faut 
but  a  knight  of  chivalry  as  well.  From  his  point  of  view, 
honor  consisted  in  refusing  secret  bribes  offered  him  by 
private  individuals.  It  never  occurred  to  him  that  there 
was  anything  dishonest  in  extorting  traveling  expenses 
or  postage  money  or  rentals  from  the  Crown,  because  in 
return  he  performed  many  a  servile  task  which  even  the 
Government  did  not  require  of  him.  To  lay  waste,  to 
destroy,  to  be  agent  of  the  banishment  or  imprisonment  of 
hundreds  of  innocent  persons  for  their  patriotism  and 
devotion  to  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  crimes  which  as 
Governor  of  a  Polish  province  he  had  constantly  com 
mitted,  these  acts  he  did  not  regard  as  dishonorable, 
but  as  giving  evidence  of  lofty  courage  and  patriotism. 
Neither  did  he  call  it  dishonest  to  fleece  his  wife,  who  was 
in  love  with  him,  and  his  sister-in-law.  On  the  contrary 
it  seemed  to  him  a  clever  arrangement  of  domestic  life. 
His  household  consisted  of  his  wife,  who  had  no  individu 
ality;  her  sister,  whose  fortune  he  had  got  into  his  own 
hands  by  selling  her  estate  and  investing  the  proceeds  in 


RESURRECTION  49 

his  own  name;  and  a  meek  daughter,  a  homely,  gentle 
creature  who  lived  a  lonely  life,  till  she  became  interested 
in  the  evangelical  lectures  at  Aline's  and  the  Countess 
Katerina  Iva"novna's.  Vladimir  Vassilievitch's  son,  a 
good-hearted  chap  whose  beard  had  developed  at  the  age 
of  fifteen, —  when  he  began  to  drink  and  to  lead  a  dis 
solute  life, —  had  in  his  twentieth  year  been  expelled  from 
the  house  partly  because  he  had  failed  to  graduate  and 
partly  for  frequenting  low  company,  compromising  his 
father  by  running  in  debt.  The  latter  had  passed  230 
roubles  for  him  once,  and  at  another  time  six  hundred 
roubles,  but  he  finally  told  his  son  that  this  was  the  last 
time  he  was  going  to  pay  his  debts  and  unless  he  reformed 
he  would  be  expelled  from  the  house  and  that  he  would 
have  no  further  intercourse  with  him.  But  he,  far  from 
turning  a  new  leaf,  fell  deeper  and  deeper  in  debt,  and 
soon  had  contracted  a  debt  for  one  thousand  roubles. 
One  day  he  took  the  liberty  of  telling  his  father  that  it  was 
a  perfect  torment  for  him  to  live  in  that  house.  That 
was  the  last  straw.  Vladimir  Vassilievitch  bade  him  go 
where  he  pleased ;  he  was  no  longer  son  of  his.  Since  then 
he  had  pretended  that  he  had  no  son,  and  no  one  ventured 
to  make  any  inquiries  about  him.  And  Vladimir  Vas 
silievitch  was  perfectly  convinced  that  his  domestic  life 
could  never  have  been  more  satisfactorily  arranged. 

Wolf  stopped  in  the  middle  of  the  stroll  up  and  down 
the  room,  and  greeting  Nekhliidof  with  that  gracious  and 
at  the  same  time  ironical  smile  which  was  meant  to  show 
his  sense  of  superiority  as  a  comme  ilfaut  personage  to  the 
world  in  general,  he  opened  the  note  and  read  it. 

"Please  take  a  seat,  and  if  you  will  excuse  me  I  will  go 
on  walking,"  he  said.  He  put  both  hands  in  his  pockets 
and  continued  to  pace  lightly  from  one  corner  of  his 
classic  study  to  the  other. 

"Very  glad  to  make  your  acquaintance,  and  naturally 
I  should  wish  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  please  Count  Ivan 
Vassilievitch,"  he  added,  as  he  opened  his  lips  to  let  a 

VOL.   II. — 4 


So  RESURRECTION 

bluish  puff  of  aromatic  smoke  escape,  carefully  removing 
his  cigar  in  order  not  to  drop  any  ashes. 

"  I  should  be  glad  to  have  the  case  considered  as  early 
as  possible,  because  if  the  prisoner  is  sent  to  Siberia,  the 
earlier  she  starts,  the  better,"  replied  Nekhliidof. 

"Yes,  yes,  I  understand,  by  the  first  steamer  from 
Nijni,"  said  Wolf,  with  that  condescending  smile  of  his. 
He  always  knew  what  anybody  was  going  to  say  before  he 
opened  his  lips.  "What's  the  prisoner's  name?" 

"Maslova " 

Wolf  walked  to  the  table  and  glanced  at  a  paper  that 
was  lying  among  the  documents. 

"  Yes,  Mdslova,  to  be  sure.  Very  well,  I  will  speak  to 
my  fellow-members  and  we  will  take  up  the  case  next 
Wednesday." 

" May  I  telegraph  to  the  lawyer  about  it?" 

"  You  have  a  lawyer  ?  But  what  for  ?  Still,  of  course 
you  may  have  a  lawyer  if  you  like." 

"The  reasons  for  an  appeal,"  said  Nekhliidof,  "may 
not  be  sufficient,  but  no  one  can  doubt  that  the  ven  ict 
was  the  result  of  a  misunderstanding." 

"Yes,  yes,  that  might  be  so,  but  it  is  not  the  Senate's 
business  to  consider  the  affair  on  its  intrinsic  merits," 
said  Vladimir  Vassilievitch  sternly  as  he  gazed  at  his 
ashes.  "The  Senate  is  only  concerned  with  the  correct 
interpretation  and  application  of  the  law." 

"This  seems  to  me  an  exceptional  case,"  said  Nekhlii 
dof. 

"Yes,  I  know,  exceptional  cases  abound.  We  shall  do 
our  duty  and  that  is  all  that  can  be  expected."  The  ashes 
still  held  on,  but  had  cracked  and  were  in  imminent  danger 
of  falling.  "Do  you  often  come  to  Petersburg?"  asked 
Wolf,  holding  his  cigar  in  such  a  way  that  the  ashes 
couldn't  fall.  But  they  were  so  near  falling  that  Wolf 
finally  carried  it  to  the  ash  tray  and  put  it  down. 

"What  a  shocking  thing  that  was  about  Kame'nsky!" 
he  exclaimed.  "  Such  a  fine  young  man  and  an  only  son. 


RESURRECTION  51 

Just  picture  the  poor  mother,"  repeating  word  for  word  the 
talk  of  the  day  in  Petersburg.  After  a  few  words  more 
about  Katerina  Ivanovna  and  her  infatuation  for  the  new 
religious  movement,  which  was  a  matter  of  supreme  in 
difference  to  Vladimir  Vassilievitch  in  his  comme  il  faut 
estate,  he  rang  a  bell  and  Nekhliidof  took  his  departure. 

"Come  to  dinner,  if  you  find  it  convenient,  say  on 
Wednesday,  and  I  shall  be  able  to  give  you  a  .decided 
answer,"  were  Wolf's  parting  words. 

It  was  late  and  Nekhliidof  drove  home,  or  rather  to 
his  aunt's  house. 

XVII. 

KATER!NA  IVANOVNA  dined  at  half-past  seven,  and  the 
dinner  was  served  in  a  novel  way  that  Nekhliidof  had 
never  seen.  The  dishes  were  all  placed  on  the  table  and 
the  servants  at  once  withdrew  so  that  the  diners  waited  on 
themselves.  The  men  of  course  helped  the  ladies  —  to 
save  them  any  trouble — passing  the  food  and  pouring  out 
the  wine.  When  one  course  was  finished,  the  Countess 
pressed  an  electric  button  under  the  table,  the  waiters 
returned  in  silence,  quickly  removed  the  dishes,  changed 
the  plates,  and  served  the  next  course.  The  dinner  was 
recherche,  and  so  were  the  wines.  A  French  chef  with  two 
helpers  dressed  in  white  worked  in  the  large,  airy  kitchen. 
There  were  six  persons  at  the  table,  —  the  Count  and 
Countess,  their  gloomy  son,  an  officer  of  the  Guards  who 
leaned  his  elbow  on  the  table,  Nekhliidof,  a  French  lady- 
reader,  and  the  Count's  steward  who  had  come  up  from 
the  country. 

Here,  too,  the  conversation  turned  on  the  duel.  It  was 
known  that  the  Emperor  was  deeply  grieved  for  the  afflicted 
mother  and  every  one  sympathized  with  her,  but  it  was 
also  known  that  in  spite  of  his  pity  for  the  mother  he 
didn't  care  to  be  too  severe  with  the  murderer,  who  had 
defended  the  honor  of  the  uniform;  and  in  this,  too,  every 


$2  RESURRECTION 

one  agreed  with  his  Majesty.  Countess  Katerma  Ivdn- 
ovna  with  her  free  and  easy  ideas  was  the  only  one  who 
condemned  him. 

"I  would  never  forgive  them  in  this  world  for  carous 
ing  and  killing  an  innocent  young  man,"  she  cried. 

"I  cannot  understand  that,"  said  the  Count. 

"I  know  you  never  can  understand  what  I  say,"  said 
the  Countess,  turning  to  Nekhludof .  "  Everybody  under 
stands  except  my  husband.  All  I  say  is  that  I  am  sorry 
for  the  mother  and  I  do  not  wish  the  murderer  to  be 
pleased  when  he  killed  a  man." 

Hereupon  her  son,  who  had  listened  in  silence,  took 
Pozen's  part  against  his  mother,  telling  her  in  rather  rude 
language  that  an  officer  couldn't  have  acted  otherwise,  on 
penalty  of  being  turned  out  of  his  regiment.  Nekhludof 
listened,  taking  no  part  in  the  conversation.  Having 
served  in  a  regiment  himself  he  understood  the  validity 
of  young  Tscharsky's  argument,  but  he  could  not  refrain 
from  comparing  the  officer  who  had  killed  a  man  with  the 
fine-looking  fellow  he  had  seen  in  the  prison  who  had  been 
sentenced  to  hard  labor  for  killing  a  man  in  a  brawl. 
Both  had  become  murderers  because  they  had  been  drink 
ing.  The  act  of  the  peasant  was  the  result  of  momentary 
excitement.  He  was  separated  from  wife  and  family, 
thrown  into  prison,  and  now  in  chains  and  with  shaven 
head  was  on  his  way  to  hard  labor,  while  the  officer  was 
living  in  a  pleasant  room  in  the  guard-house,  eating  good 
dinners,  drinking  good  wine,  and  reading  pleasant  books, 
and  in  a  few  days  he  would  be  set  free  to  pursue  his  career 
and  be  only  so  much  the  more  respected  for  what  he 
had  done. 

He  said  what  he  thought  about  the  affair  and  at  first 
his  aunt  agreed  with  him,  but  after  a  while  she  lapsed 
into  silence  like  the  others,  and  Nekhliidof  felt  almost  as 
if  he  had  committed  a  social  impropriety  in  telling  the 
story. 

In  the  evening,  not  long  after  dinner,  when  rows  of 


RESURRECTION  53 

carved,  high -backed  chairs  had  been  arranged  as  if  for  a 
lecture,  with  an  easy-chair  and  a  table  on  which  stood  a 
decanter  of  water  and  a  tumbler  for  the  preacher,  the 
company  began  to  assemble  to  hear  a  sermon  from  the 
distinguished  Kiese wetter.  Costly  equipages  drove  up 
before  the  entrance.  Women  arrayed  in  velvet,  silk,  and 
laces,  with  false  hair  and  tightly  laced  waists,  took  their 
seats.  There  were  men  among  them,  too,  both  officers 
and  civilians,  also  five  or  six  from  the  lower  classes. 
Two  house-porters,  one  shopkeeper,  footman,  and  a 
coachman. 

Kiesewetter  was  a  robust-looking  man  with  hair  just 
turning  gray.  He  spoke  in  English,  which  was  readily 
and  smoothly  translated  by  a  slim  young  girl  in  eye 
glasses.  He  said  that  our  sins  were  so  great  and  the 
punishment  due  to  them  so  severe  and  inexorable  that 
no  human  being  could  endure  it  and  live. 

"  If  we  pause  to  reflect,  dear  sisters,  beloved  brethren, 
on  the  sins  we  commit  every  day  of  our  lives,  on  the  way 
in  which  we  offend  our  Heavenly  Father  and  our  dear 
Lord,  His  Son,  we  may  be  able  to  realize  the  enormity 
of  our  sins  and  that  we  are  doomed  to  eternal  damnation. 
A  dreadful  doom,  my  brethren,"  he  cried  aloud,  with 
trembling  voice,  "and  how  shall  we  escape  it?  The 
house  is  already  in  flames  and  there  is  no  outlet." 

He  paused  and  actual  tears  were  running  down  his 
cheeks.  He  had  been  delivering  the  same  address  for 
eight  years  and  always  when  he  reached  this  passage 
the  tears  never  failed  to  come.  The  familiar  tickling 
sensation  in  his  nose,  the  choking  in  his  throat,  and  the 
stream  of  tears. 

These  tears  seemed  to  increase  his  emotion.  Sobs  were 
heard  throughout  the  room.  Countess  Katerma  Iv£n- 
ovna  was  seated  beside  an  inlaid  table,  leaning  her  head 
on  her  folded  hands,  while  her  broad  shoulders  heaved 
convulsively.  The  coachman  gazed  apprehensively  at 
the  foreign  gentleman  as  if  he  expected  a  blow  from  a 


54  RESURRECTION 

carriage-pole,  unless  he  got  out  of  the  way.  Most  of  the 
company  sat  in  attitudes  not  unlike  that  of  the  Countess. 
Wolfs  daughter,  who  looked  very  much  like  her  father, 
in  a  fashionable  gown,  was  kneeling,  her  face  covered 
with  her  hands. 

Suddenly  the  orator  lifted  his  face  and  something  not 
unlike  a  smile  flitted  across  it,  the  sort  of  smile  an  actor 
assumes  when  he  wishes  to  express  joy.  He  went  on 
speaking  in  the  familiar  sing-song  voice : 

"But  behold  salvation!  It  lies  before  us.  So  easy,  so 
blissful!  Our  salvation  is  the  blood  of  the  only  begotten 
Son  of  God  who  gave  Himself  up  to  be  tortured  for  our 
sakes.  His  agonies,  his  martyrdom,  will  be  our  salvation. 
Oh,  sisters  and  brethren,"  he  exclaimed  again  with  tearful 
voice,  "  let  us  give  thanks  to  God  Who  gave  His  only  Son 
to  redeem  mankind.  His  sacred  blood  .  .  ." 

Here  Nekhludof,  overcome  by  a  sense  of  mortification, 
rose  softly  and  creeping  on  tiptoe  retired  to  his  own  room. 

XVIII. 

THE  next  morning,  just  as  Nekhliidof  had  dressed  and 
was  about  to  go  downstairs,  the  footman  brought  him  the 
card  of  the  Moscow  lawyer.  He  had  come  to  Petersburg 
partly  on  business  affairs  of  his  own  and  partly  that  he 
might  be  present  when  Maslova's  case  came  up,  provided 
the  hearing  were  to  take  place  within  a  short  time.  The 
telegram  that  Nekhludof  sent  had  missed  him.  When  the 
latter  told  him  when  the  case  was  to  be  heard  and  the 
names  of  the  presiding  Senators,  he  smiled. 

"Three  types, — Wolf,  the  Petersburg  official;  Skovo- 
rddnikof,  the  learned  jurist;  and  Be*,  a  practical  lawyer, 
and  therefore  the  more  wide-awake.  He  is  likely  to  do 
more  for  us.  How  about  the  Committee  of  Petitions  ?" 
asked  the  lawyer. 

"I  am  going  to  call  on  Baron  Vorobi<5f  to-day.  I 
couldn't  see  him  yesterday." 


RESURRECTION  3$ 

"Do  you  know  how  Vorobidf  comes  to  be  a  Baron?** 
asked  the  lawyer,  observing  the  peculiar  intonation  in 
Nekhludof's  voice  when  he  pronounced  this  foreign  title 
in  connection  with  the  unmistakable  Russian  name. 
"Paul  once  rewarded  the  man's  grandfather,  a  groom  of 
the  chambers,  or  something  of  the  sort,  by  giving  him  a 
title,  as  much  as  to  say,  'Here,  take  a  baronetcy,  and 
don't  interfere  with  my  pleasure!'  That's  the  way  this 
race  of  Barons  began.  The  present  Baron  is  proud  of  it. 
He  is  a  shrewd  man." 

"I  am  on  my  way  to  see  him  now,"  said  Nekhliidof. 

"That's  fortunate,  we  can  go  together.  Let  me  give 
you  a  lift." 

As  they  started  a  footman  met  Nekhludof  in  the  hall 
and  gave  him  a  note  from  Marie tte. 

"Pour  vous  fair e  plaisir,  fai  agi  tout-a-fait  contre  mes 
principes,  et  fai  intercede  aupres  de  mon  marl  pour  votre 
protegee.  II  se  trouve  que  cette  personne  peut-etre  re- 
lachee  immediatement.  Mon  mari  a  ecrit  au  commandant. 
Venez  done  disinterestedly.  Je  vous  attends. 

"M." 

"But  what  does  this  mean?"  Nekhludof  said  to  the 
lawyer.  "  This  is  simply  outrageous.  The  woman,  who 
has  been  kept  in  solitary  confinement  for  several  months, 
proves  to  be  innocent  and  in  order  to  get  her  released  all 
it  needs  is  to  say  the  word." 

"  That's  the  way  it  always  is,"  said  the  lawyer.  "  But 
you've  got  what  you  wanted." 

"Yes,  but  this  success  distresses  me.  Just  think  what 
must  be  going  on  there.  Why  were  they  keeping  her?" 

"  Well,  if  I  were  you,  I  wouldn't  try  to  find  out.  Then 
you'll  let  me  give  you  a  lift  ?" 

By  this  time  they  had  left  the  house  and  a  fine  carriage 
which  the  lawyer  had  hired  drove  up  to  the  entrance. 

"You  want  to  go  to  Baron  Vorobidf  ?" 

The  lawyer  gave  the  address  to  the  coachman,  and  the 


56  RESURRECTION 

swift  horses  quickly  carried  Nekhliidof  to  the  Baron's 
residence. 

He  was  at  home.  In  the  first  room  were  two  ladies  and 
a  tall,  young,  slim  official  dressed  in  uniform.  His  neck 
was  long,  his  Adam's  apple  very  conspicuous,  and  his  gait 
was  both  light  and  graceful. 

"Your  name,  please  ?"  said  the  youth  with  the  Adam's 
apple,  tripping  lightly  between  the  ladies  and  Nekhliidof. 
Nekhliidof  gave  his  name. 

"  The  Baron  has  mentioned  you.    One  moment,  please." 

The  aide-de-camp  passed  through  the  closed  door  and 
returned  escorting  a  lady  dressed  in  mourning,  whose  up 
lifted  veil  revealed  a  tear-stained  face.  With  her  bony 
fingers  she  was  in  the  act  of  lowering  her  veil  to  hide  her 
tears. 

"This  way,  please,"  said  the  young  man  to  Nekhliidof, 
walking  lightly  towards  the  door,  which  he  opened  to 
admit  the  latter. 

On  entering  the  study  Nekhliidof  found  himself  face  to 
face  with  a  stout  man  of  medium  height  who  wore  a 
frock  coat,  sitting  in  an  easy-chair  beside  a  table.  His 
hair  was  clipped  closely  to  his  head;  he  had  a  cheerful 
countenance,  and  his  rosy  face  framed  by  a  full  white 
beard  lighted  with  an  amiable  smile  at  the  sight  of 
Nekhliidof. 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you.  Your  mother  and  I  were 
old  friends.  I  remember  you  when  you  were  a  boy,  and 
later  when  you  were  an  officer.  Pray  take  a  seat  and  tell 
me  how  I  can  be  of  use  to  you."  "  I  know,  I  know,"  he 
added,  while  Nekhliidof  was  relating  Feddsya's  story. 

"  Go  on,  I  am  following  you.  It's  a  very  pitiful  case, 
indeed.  Did  you  say  you  had  sent  in  the  petition?" 

"I  have  prepared  it,"  said  Nekhliidof,  taking  it  out  of 
his  pocket,  "but  I  was  going  to  ask  you  about  it;  I  hoped 
that  this  case  would  receive  special  attention." 

"You  have  done  well.  I  shall  certainly  present  the  re 
port  in  person,"  said  the  Baron,  trying  to  show  an  emo- 


RESURRECTION  57 

tion  of  sadness  which  was  so  little  suited  to  his  cheerful 
face.  "  It  is  indeed  a  very  affecting  story.  She  seems  to 
have  been  but  a  child  and  her  husband  was  too  rough 
with  her  and  turned  her  natural  fondness  for  him  into 
aversion.  Then  later  came  a  time  when  they  really  loved 
each  other.  .  .  .  Yes,  I  shall  report  it." 

"Count  Ivan  Mikhdilovitch  said  he  would  ask 
you " 

Hardly  had  these  words  passed  Nekhludof's  lips  when 
the  Baron's  expression  changed. 

"After  all,  it  would  be  better  for  you  to  send  in  your 
own  petition,  and  I  will  do  everything  I  can  to  help,"  he 
told  Nekhludof. 

But  at  this  moment  the  young  man  who  seemed  so 
vain  of  his  gait  came  into  the  room. 

"That  lady  has  two  words  more  to  say,  sir." 

"Very  well,  let  her  come  in.  Ah,  mon  cher,  if  you  but 
knew  the  floods  of  tears  we  see!  If  we  could  only  hope 
to  dry  them!  We  do  what  we  can!" 

The  lady  entered. 

"  I  forgot  to  ask  you  not  to  let  him  give  up  the  daughter; 
he  is  capable  of " 

"I  told  you  I  would  do  everything." 

"For  God's  sake,  Baron,  you  will  save  the  mother." 
She  seized  his  hand  and  began  to  kiss  it. 

"Everything  will  be  done." 

After  the  lady  departed,  Nekhludof  also  rose  to  take 
leave. 

"We  shall  do  the  best  we  can.  We  will  write  to  the 
Ministry  of  Justice  and  when  their  answer  comes,  we 
will  do  all  we  can." 

Nekhludof  left  and  went  into  the  office.  Again,  as  in 
the  Senate,  he  found  superb  officials  in  a  superb  apart 
ment,  officials  who  were  neat,  polite,  scrupulous  in  their 
dress  and  in  their  speech,  precise  and  rigid  in  their 
manner. 

"What  numbers  of  them  there  are!     How  numerous 


58  RESURRECTION 

and  so  well  fed!  What  clean  shirts  and  hands!  How 
well  their  shoes  are  polished!  And  who  does  all  this? 
How  well  off  they  all  are,  not  only  as  compared  with  the 
prisoners,  but  even  with  the  peasants."  Nekhliidof 
could  not  keep  such  thoughts  from  his  mind. 

XDC 

THE  man  on  whom  depended  the  alleviation  of  the  lot 
of  the  prisoners  in  Petersburg,  possessed  decorations 
enough  to  cover  him,  though  he  rarely  wore  anything  but 
a  white  cross  in  his  buttonhole.  He  was  an  aged  Gen 
eral  whose  family  had  descended  from  a  line  of  German 
barons.  He  had  had  many  years  of  active  service,  but 
he  was  now  in  his  dotage.  This  white  cross  of  his,  which 
he  prized  so  highly,  he  received  in  the  Caucasus  as  a  re 
ward  for  having  commanded  Russian  peasants  with 
close-cropped  hair,  who,  dressed  in  uniforms  and  armed 
with  muskets  and  bayonets,  had  killed  more  than  a 
thousand  men  who  were  defending  their  liberty,  their 
homes,  and  their  families.  Afterwards  he  had  served 
in  Poland,  where  he  also  compelled  the  Russian  peasants 
lo  commit  all  sorts  of  crimes  for  which  he  had  received 
more  orders  and  decorations.  Then  he  served  somewhere 
else,  and  now  when  he  had  grown  old  and  feeble,  he  was 
appointed  to  this  post,  which  provided  him  with  a  good 
house  and  salary,  and  human  respect.  He  was  rigid  in 
his  obedience  to  "orders  from  above,"  and  very  proud 
of  himself  for  his  rigor.  He  really  believed  that  every 
thing  in  this  world  was  liable  to  be  changed,  except  those 
"orders  from  above."  His  duty  consisted  of  keeping 
political  prisoners  of  both  sexes  confined  under  such 
conditions  that  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  half  of  them 
had  died  or  become  insane.  Some  died  of  consumption, 
some  starved  to  death  or  committed  suicide  by  opening 
their  arteries  with  a  fragment  of  glass,  others  hanged 
themselves,  and  some  even  burned  themselves  to  death. 


RESURRECTION  59 

The  old  General  knew  all  about  these  cases,  because  they 
had  taken  place  under  his  eyes,  but  he  looked  upon  such 
happenings  as  accidents  of  nature,  such  as  might  arise 
from  storms  and  floods.  They  did  not  affect  his  con 
science  in  the  least.  They  were  the  direct  result  of  "  orders 
from  above,"  issued  in  the  name  of  his  Majesty  the 
Emperor.  Such  orders  were  always  scrupulously  obeyed, 
and  it  was  not  his  affair  to  consider  results.  He  believed 
that  it  was  his  duty  as  a  soldier  and  as  a  patriot  not  to 
reason,  lest  that  might  weaken  him  in  the  execution  of 
these  immensely  important  orders.  Once  a  week  the 
old  General  made  the  rounds  of  the  cells,  this  being  a 
duty,  and  asked  every  prisoner  if  he  or  she  had  any  re 
quests  to  make.  The  requests  were  made.  He  heard 
them  in  silence,  but  never  granted  them  because  all  the 
requests  were  contrary  to  the  regulations  of  the  law. 

As  Nekhliidof  was  drawing  near  the  residence  of  the 
old  General,  the  melodious  chimes  of  the  tower  played 
"Praise  ye  the  Lord,"  and  the  church  clock  was  on  the 
stroke  of  two.  As  he  listened  to  the  chimes,  Nekhludof 
couldn't  help  remembering  to  have  read  in  the  memoirs  of 
the  Decembrists  *  what  effect  this  sweet  music,  repeated 
every  hour,  had  produced  on  the  hearts  of  those  prisoners 
confined  for  life. 

Meanwhile  the  aged  General  was  seated  in  his  dimly 
lighted  drawing-room  at  an  inlaid  table,  where  he  was 
occupied  with  a  young  artist,  the  brother  of  one  of  his  sub 
ordinates,  twirling  a  saucer  on  a  sheet  of  paper.  The 
moist,  frail,  and  slender  fingers  of  the  artist  were  inter 
laced  with  the  hard,  stiff -jointed,  and  wrinkled  fingers  of 
the  old  General,  and  these  clasped  hands  were  jerking  to 
and  fro,  still  holding  the  inverted  saucer  over  the  sheet  of 
paper,  which  had  all  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  written 
upon  it.  The  saucer  was  answering  the  question  asked 
by  the  General,  "  Do  the  souls  of  the  departed  recognize 
each  other  after  death?" 

1 A  group  of  revolutionists  at  the  time  of  the  accession  of  Nicholas  I.  — TR. 


60  RESURRECTION 

Just  as  the  orderly  who  was  acting  as  a  valet  entered 
with  Nekhludof'  s  card,  the  spirit  of  Joan  of  Arc  was  com 
municating  with  them  by  means  of  the  saucer.  Joan  of 
Arc's  spirit  had  already  spelled  out,  "  They  will  recognize 
each  other  by,"  and  it  had  been  written  down.  Just  as 
the  orderly  came  in,  the  saucer  had  paused  at  the  letter 
"b"  and  then  at  "y,"  and  when  it  reached  "1"  it  began 
hitching  to  and  fro.  The  General  thought  that  the  next 
letter  must  be  "b,"  that  is  that  Joan  of  Arc  was  going  to 
say  that  souls  would  know  each  other  by  being  cleansed 
from  all  earthly  impurity,  or  words  to  that  effect,  and 
so  he  argued  that  the  next  letter  should  be  "b";  but  the 
artist  argued  that  the  next  letter  ought  to  be  "1"  and 
that  the  spirit  of  Joan  of  Arc  meant  to  say  that  souls 
would  know  each  other  by  "light"  emanating  from  the 
ethereal  substance  of  the  souls.  The  General,  wrinkling 
his  heavy  gray  eyebrows,  sat  gazing  morosely  at  the  hands. 
Fancying  that  the  saucer  moved  of  its  own  accord,  he 
kept  pulling  it  towards  the  letter  "b."  The  anaemic 
young  artist  with  his  thin  hair  drawn  smoothly  behind  his 
ears  had  fixed  his  expressionless  blue  eyes  on  a  dark  cor 
ner  of  the  drawing-room,  and  with  twitching  lips  was 
pulling  the  saucer  towards  the  letter  "1." 

The  General,  frowning  at  this  interruption  of  his  occu 
pation,  put  on  his  pince-nez,  looked  at  the  card,  rubbed 
his  stiffened  fingers,  and  groaning  from  a  pain  in  his  back 
as  he  drew  himself  to  his  full  height,  said,  "  Show  him 
into  the  study." 

"If  your  Excellency  will  permit  me,"  said  the  artist, 
rising,  "I  will  finish  this  alone.  I  feel  the  presence." 

"Just  as  you  like,  I've  no  objection,"  said  the  old 
General,  sternly.  He  turned  in  the  direction  of  the 
study,  walking  with  a  firm  and  even  gait. 

"  Glad  to  see  you,"  he  said  pleasantly  to  Nekhludof,  in 
his  gruff  voice,  pointing  to  an  easy-chair  beside  the  writ 
ing-desk.  "  How  long  since  you  arrived  in  Petersburg  ?" 

Nekhludof  replied  that  he  had  only  just  arrived. 


RESURRECTION  61 

"I  trust  your  mother,  the  Princess,  is  keeping  well?" 

"My  mother  is  no  longer  living." 

"  Oh,  I  beg  your  pardon,  I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  that. 
My  son  told  me  about  meeting  you." 

The  General's  son  was  pursuing  a  career  not  unlike 
that  of  his  father.  After  leaving  the  Military  Academy, 
he  held  a  position  in  the  detective  bureau  and  was  very 
proud  of  the  work  given  to  him.  It  was  the  supervision 
of  the  spies. 

"Yes,  I  was  in  service  with  your  father;  we  were  com 
rades  and  friends.  Are  you  hi  the  Government  service  ?" 

"No,  I  am  not." 

The  General  shook  his  head  with  an  air  of  disapproval. 

"I  have  come  here  to  make  a  request  of  you,  General." 

"Indeed ?  I  am  glad  to  hear  that;  and  what  can  I  do 
for  you?" 

"  If  what  I  am  going  to  ask  is  improper,  I  hope  you  will 
pardon  me;  but  I  must,  at  all  events,  tell  you  what  it  is." 

"What  is  it?" 

"There  is  a  certain  man  called  GurkeVitch  confined  in 
the  Fortress.  His  mother  asks  for  permission  to  visit 
him,  or  at  least  to  be  allowed  to  send  him  books." 

The  General  showed  neither  pleasure  nor  displeasure  at 
Nekhludof  's  request.  He  bowed  his  head  as  if  in  thought, 
but  the  truth  was,  he  took  not  a  shred  of  interest  in  Nekh 
ludof 's  question,  knowing  beforehand  that  his  answer 
would  be  given  in  accordance  with  the  law;  he  was  simply 
taking  a  mental  rest  and  his  mind  was  a  perfect  blank. 

"Matters  of  this  kind,  you  see,"  he  began,  "do  not  de 
pend  upon  me.  There  is  a  regulation  concerning  inter 
views,"  he  went  on  after  a  pause,  "confirmed  by  his 
Majesty,  and  whatever  has  been  decreed  is  carried  into 
execution.  As  to  books,  we  have  a  library  and  those 
books  which  are  proper  for  them  to  read  are  to  be  found 
in  it." 

"But  he  needs  scientific  books;  he  wants  to  study." 

"Don't  you  believe  it."     Here  the  General  relapsed 


62  RESURRECTION 

into  silence.  "It  is  not  studying  that  he  wants.  It's 
only  the  spirit  of  restlessness." 

"But  don't  you  think,"  said  Nekhludof,  "that  consid 
ering  their  unfortunate  condition  it  is  better  to  keep  these 
men  occupied  ?" 

"They  are  forever  grumbling,"  objected  the  General, 
"we  know  them."  He  spoke  of  them  as  though  they 
were  a  different  sort  of  human  being.  "  They  have  com 
forts  here  that  are  seldom  found  in  prisons.  I  assure 
you,"  and  he  began  as  though  in  self -justification  to 
describe  in  detail  all  the  conveniences  that  are  provided 
for  the  prisoners,  as  though  the  chief  aim  of  the  institution 
was  to  provide  a  pleasant  abode  for  them.  "  It  was  not 
like  this  in  the  old  times,  I  must  say.  It  used  to  be  very 
hard;  but  nowadays  they  are  well  cared  for;  they  have 
three  courses,  and  one  of  them  is  always  meat,  hash,  or 
cutlets.  On  Sundays  they  get  a  fourth  course,  a  dessert. 
Would  to  God  that  every  Russian  were  as  well  fed." 

Like  all  old  persons  the  General  was  voluble,  and  in 
dealing  with  a  topic  which  he  knew  by  heart  he  went  over 
the  ground  again  and  again,  referring  to  their  demands 
and  ingratitude. 

"They  have  books  on  spiritual  subjects  and  an  abun 
dance  of  old  periodicals  in  our  library.  But  they  don't 
read  much.  When  they  first  arrive  they  seem  interested, 
but  very  soon  new  books  are  returned  with  the  leaves  half 
cut,  while  the  pages  of  the  old  ones  are  not  even  turned. 
We  used  to  try  them  by  putting  in  bits  of  paper,  but  we 
always  found  them  unchanged.  Neither  do  we  hinder 
them  from  writing.  Slates  and  pencils  are  provided. 
They  can  write  and  rub  out  what  they  have  written  and 
write  over  and  over  again.  But  they  don't  do  it.  No, 
they  very  soon  quiet  down.  It's  only  at  first  that  they 
are  restless.  As  time  goes  on,  they  even  begin  to  grow 
stout  and  become  very  tractable,"  he  said. 

Nekhlildof  listened  to  this  hoarse  old  voice,  gazed  at 
the  stiffened  limbs  and  the  dull  eyes  half  hidden  under  the 


RESURRECTION  63 

gray  eyebrows,  at  the  carefully  shaven  flabby  cheeks 
braced  by  a  military  collar,  at  the  white  cross  of  which  he 
was  so  proud  and  which  he  received  for  his  exceptionally 
cruel  slaughter  of  thousands  of  men — all  the  while  real 
izing  the  folly  of  contradicting  or  even  trying  to  explain 
to  him  the  meaning  of  his  own  appeal.  However,  he 
made  an  effort,  and  inquired  about  another  case,  that  of 
the  prisoner  Shustova.  He  had  heard  that  she  was  to 
be  released  to-day. 

"Shustova?  Shustova?  I  cannot  possibly  recall  all 
their  names;  there  are  so  many  of  them,"  he  said,  as  if 
they  were  to  blame  for  that.  He  rang  the  bell  and  sent 
for  his  clerk,  meanwhile  occupying  the  interval  by  trying 
to  persuade  Nekhludof  to  serve.  "Every  honest  and 
high-minded  man" — he  included  himself  in  the  number 
—  "was  needed  by  the  Czar  .  .  .  and  the  country."  He 
evidently  added  the  two  last  words  to  round  out  his  sen 
tence.  "I  am  an  old  man,"  he  went  on,  "but  so  far  as 
my  strength  permits,  I  go  on  serving." 

The  clerk,  a  withered,  thin  man,  with  intelligent  eyes, 
came  in  and  reported  that  Shustova  was  still  a  prisoner 
and  occupied  some  odd  cell  in  the  Fortress  and  that  no 
formal  order  had  been  received  concerning  her. 

"We  always  discharge  them  on  the  day  we  get  the 
papers.  We  don't  keep  them  any  longer  than  we  can 
help.  We  are  not  anxious  for  their  society,"  said  the 
General,  with  an  attempt  at  a  playful  smile  which  only 
distorted  his  aged  face. 

Nekhliidof  rose  with  an  attempt  to  conceal  the  mingled 
sense  of  disgust  and  pity  which  the  sight  and  hearing  of 
this  dreadful  old  man  excited  in  his  heart.  And  the  old 
man,  on  his  side,  thought  he  must  not  be  too  hard  on  the 
thoughtless  and  erring  son  of  an  old  comrade;  and  he 
also  felt  that  he  ought  to  give  him  some  sound  advice 
before  he  left. 

"  Good-by,  my  dear  fellow!"  he  exclaimed,  "now  don't 
be  vexed  with  me  for  what  I  am  going  to  say,  because  my 


64  RESURRECTION 

motives  are  friendly.  Don't  have  anything  to  do  with 
our  prisoners.  There  are  no  innocent  ones  here.  They 
are  almost  all  immoral.  We  know  them,"  he  added,  and 
the  tone  of  his  voice  admitted  of  no  possible  doubt.  His 
reason  for  not  doubting  their  guilt  was  a  personal  one. 
If  they  had  not  been  guilty  he  would  have  been  forced  to 
call  himself  a  villain,  who  had  been  selling,  and  in  his  old 
age  went  on  selling,  his  conscience,  instead  of  a  venerable 
hero  who  was  closing  a  long  life  in  a  worthy  manner. 

"We  can  do  nothing  finer  than  to  serve.  The  Czar 
needs  honest  men  and  so  does  the  country.  .  .  .  What 
do  you  suppose  would  happen  if  we  all  behaved  like  you 
and  refused  to  serve?  We  are  ready  to  condemn  the 
government,  and  yet  we  are  not  willing  to  help  it." 

Nekhliidof  drew  a  deep  breath  and  made  a  low  bow  as 
he  shook  the  big,  bony  hand  that  was  condescendingly 
extended  and  left  the  room. 

The  General  shook  his  head  disapprovingly,  and  rub 
bing  his  back  he  returned  to  the  drawing-room,  where  the 
artist,  who  had  already  written  down  Joan  of  Arc's  reply, 
was  waiting  for  him.  The  General  replaced  his  pince-nez 
and  read,  "They  will  recognize  each  other  by  aid  of  the 
light  which  emanates  from  the  astral  body." 

"Ah,"  he  said  approvingly  and  closed  his  eyes.  " But 
if  everybody  emits  the  same  light,  how  is  one  to  know?" 
and  interlacing  his  ringers  with  those  of  the  artist  he 
again  took  his  seat  at  the  table. 

Nekhludofs  izvdstchik  drove  through  the  gate. 

"  That's  a  lonely  place,  sir.  I  had  half  a  mind  to  drive 
off  without  waiting  for  you." 

"Yes,  it  is  dreary,"  replied  Nekhludof,  drawing  in  a 
deep  breath  and  gazing  with  a  sense  of  relief  at  the  smoke- 
colored  clouds  flitting  across  the  sky  and  at  the  shimmer 
ing  ripples  in  the  wake  of  the  passing  boats  and  steamers 
along  the  Neva. 


RESURRECTION  65 


XX. 

MASLOVA'S  case  was  brought  up  on  the  following  day, 
and  Nekhludof  drove  to  the  Senate.  He  found  several 
carriages  already  waiting,  and  at  its  imposing  entrance  he 
met  his  lawyer.  Ascending  a  magnificent  staircase  to  the 
second  story,  the  lawyer,  who  was  familiar  with  the 
various  entrances,  came  in  at  the  door  on  the  left,  which 
bore  the  inscription  of  the  date  of  the  introduction  of 
Judicial  Jurisdiction.  After  taking  off  his  overcoat  and 
learning  from  the  door-keeper  that  the  Senators  were  all 
assembled,  that  the  last  one  had  just  passed  in,  Fana"rin 
in  his  swallow-tail  and  white  tie  passed  cheerfully  into  the 
room.  On  the  right-hand  side  of  this  room  there  were 
a  large  cupboard  and  a  table.  On  the  left,  a  swell-looking 
clerk  in  civilian 's  uniform,  with  a  portfolio  under  his  arm, 
was  descending  a  winding  staircase.  An  old  man,  whose 
long  white  hair  gave  him  a  patriarchal  aspect,  though  he 
wore  a  short  coat  and  gray  trousers,  attracted  his  atten 
tion.  Two  attendants  in  respectful  attitudes  stood  beside 
him.  This  white-haired  old  man  opened  the  cupboard 
and  vanished.  Just  then  Fana"rin,  who  had  discovered  a 
professional  chum  wearing  a  swallow-tail  and  a  white  tie 
like  his  own,  fell  at  once  into  an  animated  conversation, 
while  Nekhludof  busied  himself  observing  the  people  in 
the  room.  There  were  fifteen  in  all,  including  two  ladies. 
Of  these  one  was  a  young  woman  who  wore  eyeglasses, 
the  other's  hair  was  gray.  The  case  to  be  heard  to-day 
was  a  libel  in  the  newspapers,  and  therefore  a  larger 
audience  than  usual,  chiefly  journalists,  had  assembled. 

The  Assistant  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  the  Crown,  a 
handsome,  florid  man  in  a  gorgeous  uniform,  holding  a 
slip  of  paper  in  his  hand,  approached  Fan&rin  to  ask  him 
in  what  case  he  was  interested,  and  on  learning  that  it  was 
M£slova's  he  made  a  note  of  it  and  departed.  At  this 
moment  the  cupboard  door  swung  open  and  the  patri- 

VOL.   II. — 5 


66  RESURRECTION 

archal  old  man,  who  had  exchanged  his  short  coat  for  a 
dazzling  uniform  with  metal  plates  on  his  breast,  that 
made  him  look  like  a  bird,  came  forth. 

It  was  plainly  to  be  seen  that  the  costume  was  embar 
rassing  to  the  old  gentleman  himself,  for  he  walked  much 
more  rapidly  than  usual  and  left  the  room  by  the  opposite 
door. 

"  That's  Be*,  really  a  most  estimable  man,'J  said  Fana"- 
rin  to  Nekhludof,  and  then  turning  to  his  friend,  he 
introduced  the  two,  and  they  went  on  talking  of  the  case 
which  was  coming  up,  and  which  was  considered  to  be  of 
unusual  interest. 

The  hearing  shortly  began,  and  Nekhludof,  with  the 
rest  of  the  audience,  went  into  the  Senate  Chamber  on  the 
left.  Fanarin  went  with  the  others  into  the  enclosure 
railed  off  for  the  public.  Only  the  Petersburg  lawyer 
approached  a  desk  in  front  of  the  railing. 

The  Senate  Chamber  was  smaller  than  the  Circuit 
Court  Room  and  plainer  in  its  appointments.  The  chief 
difference  between  them  was  that  the  table  at  which  the 
Senators  were  seated  was  covered,  not  with  green  cloth, 
but  with  crimson  velvet  trimmed  with  gold  braid.  The 
attributes  common  to  all  such  places  were  present,  the 
ikon,  the  Mirror  of  Justice, — emblem  of  hypocrisy,  and 
the  portrait  of  the  Emperor, — emblem  of  servility.  The 
usher  announced  in  his  usual  solemn  tones,  "  The  Court 
is  coming,"  and  everybody  rose  in  the  usual  way.  Sena 
tors  dressed  in  uniforms  entered  the  room  and  took  their 
seats  in  their  high-backed  chairs,  leaning  on  their  elbows, 
trying  to  look  as  if  they  were  at  ease.  There  were  four 
Senators.  The  Presiding  Senator,  Nikitin,  a  clean 
shaven  man  with  a  narrow  face  and  eyes  like  steel ;  Wolf, 
with  his  compressed  lips  and  little  white  hands,  with  which 
he  fingered  the  papers  of  the  case;  Skovor6dnikof,  an 
excellent  lawyer,  stout,  untidy,  with  a  pock-marked  face; 
and  the  fourth  was  Be*,  the  patriarchal  old  man,  who  had 
been  the  last  to  arrive.  The  Chief  Secretary  and  the 


RESURRECTION  67 

Public  Prosecutor's  Assistant,  a  slender  young  man  of 
medium  height,  dark-skinned,  smooth-faced,  with  sad 
black  eyes,  had  also  come  in  with  the  Senators.  Nekhlti- 
dof,  in  spite  of  his  unfamiliar  uniform,  recognized  him  at 
once,  though  it  was  six  years  since  they  had  last  met.  He 
had  been  one  of  Nekhliidof's  best  friends  in  his  student 
days. 

"Is  that  the  Assistant  of  the  Public  Prosecutor,  Sele*- 
nin?"  he  asked  his  lawyer. 

"Yes,  why  do  you  ask?" 

"I  know  him  very  well;  he  is  a  fine  man." 

"And  he  makes  an  admirable  prosecuting  attorney 
who  knows  his  business;  he  would  have  been  the  one  for 
us  to  ask,"  said  Fanarin. 

"  Well,  he  will  be  sure  to  act  according  to  the  dictates  of 
his  conscience,"  said  Nekhludof,  remembering  his  former 
intimacy  with  Selenin  and  his  attractive  qualities  of 
purity,  honesty,  and  decency  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
word. 

"But  we've  no  time  now  except  for  listening  to  the 
report  of  this  case,"  whispered  Fanarin. 

The  case  was  an  appeal  to  the  Superior  Court  to  repeal 
the  verdict  of  the  Circuit  Court. 

Nekhludof  listened  attentively,  making  a  vain  attempt 
to  fathom  the  meaning  of  what  was  going  on,  but  just  as 
it  had  always  been  in  the  Criminal  Court,  the  chief  draw 
back  to  comprehension  of  the  matter  was  the  persistence 
with  which  side  issues  were  discussed  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  main  issue.  It  was  about  a  newspaper  article  which 
had  revealed  the  rascality  of  the  director  of  a  stock 
company.  It  would  seem  as  if  there  were  only  one  im 
portant  point  to  be  considered :  whether  or  not  the  director 
of  the  stock  company  was- robbing  the  stockholders,  and 
how  he  could  be  prevented  from  doing  so.  But  this 
question  was  never  asked.  Whether  the  editor  had  a 
right  to  publish  the  contribution,  whether  it  was  to  be 
considered  as  a  libel  or  a  slander,  and  whether  a  libel 


68  RESURRECTION 

includes  a  slander  or  a  slander  includes  a  libel  seemed  to 
be  the  question,  not  to  mention  other  matters  even  less 
familiar  to  the  laity  concerning  the  various  statutes  and 
decisions  of  a  certain  department  of  Common  Law. 

What  Nekhludof  did  realize  was  that  Wolf,  who  was 
now  making  the  report  and  who  no  longer  than  yesterday 
had  insisted  that  the  Senate  could  not  judge  a  case  on  its 
merits,  was  at  this  moment  presenting  a  case  in  favor  of 
repealing  the  judgment  of  the  Court,  while  Selenin  in  a 
manner  wholly  at  variance  with  his  customary  self-con 
trol,  broke  in  in  sudden  heat  with  an  opposite  opinion. 
The  excitement  of  Sele*nin  was  due  to  the  fact  that  he 
knew  the  director  of  the  stock  company  to  be  a  rascal 
where  money  was  concerned  and  had  incidentally  learned 
that  on  the  eve  of  this  hearing  Wolf  had  been  this  man's 
guest  at  a  sumptuous  dinner.  And  now,  when  the  latter 
began  to  make  his  report  couched  in  guarded  terms  but 
with  a  distinct  bias  in  favor  of  the  director,  Selenin  had 
become  excited  and  expressed  himself  in  stronger  terms 
than  seemed  to  be  called  for  in  such  an  everyday  matter 
as  this.  Evidently  his  words  had  given  offense  to  Wolf. 
He  blushed,  his  muscles  twitched,  and  he  made  gestures 
of  surprise,  rising  at  last  with  an  air  of  injured  dignity  to 
withdraw  with  the  other  Senators  to  the  consultation 
room. 

"In  which  case  are  you  interested?"  asked  the  usher, 
approaching  Nekhludof  as  soon  as  the  Senators  had  with 
drawn. 

"  I  have  told  you  once  already  that  it  is  in  the  M£slova 
case,"  replied  Nekhludof. 

"Oh,  I  remember  now.  It  was  to  be  heard  to-day, 
but " 

"Well?"  asked  the  lawyer.  • 

"  You  see  we  were  not  expecting  a  defense,  so  that  the 
Senators  are  not  likely  to  come  back  after  passing  a  reso 
lution.  Still,  I  will  call  their  attention  to  it " 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that?" 


RESURRECTION  69 

"I  will  certainly  call  their  attention,"  said  the  usher, 
and  proceeded  to  write  something  on  a  slip  of  paper. 

The  Senators  actually  had  intended  after  the  decision 
in  the  libel  suit  to  dispose  of  all  other  cases,  Maslova's 
included,  as  they  sat  comfortably  smoking  and  taking 
their  tea  in  the  consultation  room. 


XXI. 

As  soon  as  the  Senators  had  taken  their  seats  at  the 
table  in  the  consultation  room,  Wolf  began  in  a  very 
animated  manner  to  show  the  reasons  why  the  judgment 
ought  to  be  reversed.  The  chairman,  whose  attitude  was 
apt  to  be  antagonistic,  was  even  more  out  of  sorts  than 
usual  to-day.  He  had  arrived  at  a  decision  while  he  was 
listening  to  the  report,  and  now,  intent  upon  his  own 
thoughts,  he  never  heard  one  word  that  Wolf  said.  He 
was  trying  to  recall  the  words  he  had  used  when  he  had 
written  in  his  memoirs  about  the  appointment  of  Vely&nof 
to  a  position  which  he  had  coveted  for  himself.  Chair 
man  Nikitin  honestly  believed  that  his  judgment  of  the 
officials  of  the  two  upper  classes  with  whom  he  had  had 
intercourse  during  the  period  of  his  active  service  con 
tained  material  for  important  historical  documents,  having 
written  last  night  a  chapter  in  which  he  had  given  some 
hard  knocks  to  certain  officials  of  the  first  two  classes  for 
having  hindered  him  from  saving  Russia  from  the  destruc 
tion  into  which  the  present  rulers  were  dragging  it.  This 
was  his  way  of  describing  it,  but  the  truth  of  the  matter 
was  that  he  was  angry  because  he  had  been  prevented 
from  getting  a  higher  salary.  At  that  moment  he  was 
thinking  that  posterity  would  see  these  matters  in  an 
entirely  new  light. 

"Yes,  of  course,"  he  replied  to  Wolf,  when  the  latter 
addressed  him  in  words  which  he  had  not  heard.  Be* 
listened  with  a  melancholy  expression  to  what  Wolf  was 
saying,  drawing  garlands  all  the  while  on  a  sheet  of  paper 


70  RESURRECTION 

that  lay  before  him.  Be*  was  a  Liberal,  pure  and  simple. 
He  religiously  treasured  the  traditions  of  the  "sixties," 
and  if  he  ever  departed  from  his  strictly  neutral  attitude  it 
was  always  in  favor  of  Liberalism.  As  for  instance  in  this 
case,  setting  aside  the  fact  that  the  stockbroker  who  com 
plained  of  the  libel  was  himself  an  unscrupulous  man, 
E6  was  in  favor  of  rejecting  the  libel  accusation  because 
it  was  in  itself  a  restraint  on  the  freedom  of  the 
press. 

When  Wolf  had  completed  his  argument,  Be*,  leaving 
his  garland  unfinished,  with  a  note  of  regret  in  his  voice 
—  for  it  grieved  him  to  be  compelled  to  demonstrate  such 
truisms  —  proceeded  in  a  low  and  gentle  voice,  his  white 
head  bowed,  to  prove  simply,  concisely  and  convincingly 
the  utter  groundlessness  of  the  suit  for  libel,  and  when  he 
had  finished  he  went  on  drawing  his  garland. 

Skovor6dnikof,  who  sat  opposite  Wolf  and  who  kept 
gathering  his  mustache  and  beard  with  his  fat  fingers  into 
his  mouth  and  chewing  them,  suddenly  dropped  this 
occupation  when  Be  paused,  and  in  a  loud,  creaking  voice 
said  that  although  he  knew  the  director  of  the  company 
to  be  a  great  rascal,  he  would  advocate  setting  the  judg 
ment  aside,  provided  any  legal  reasons  existed  for  doing 
so;  but  as  there  were  no  such  reasons  he  agreed  with  Ivan 
Vassilievitch,  covertly  rejoicing  at  the  opportunity  of 
inflicting  the  pin-prick  he  intended  for  W6lf.  The  Pre 
siding  Senator  shared  the  opinion  of  Skovor6dnikof,  and 
the  case  was  decided  in  the  negative. 

Wolf  was  particularly  annoyed,  because  he  seemed  to 
be  caught  in  unconscious  partiality.  Assuming  an  air  of 
indifference,  however,  he  opened  the  next  case  to  be 
reported,  that  of  Maslova,  and  became  absorbed  in  it. 
Meanwhile  the  Senators  rang  the  bell,  called  for  tea,  and 
began  discussing  an  event  which  together  with  the 
Kame'nsky  duel  was  the  talk  of  Petersburg.  It  was  the 
case  of  a  Director  of  a  Government  Department  caught 
with  sufficient  proof  in  a  crime  provided  for  by  article 


RESURRECTION  71 

995  of  the  Statutes.  "How  revolting!"  said  Be*,  with 
disgust. 

"  Where's  the  harm  ?  I  can  show  you  the  project  of  a 
German  writer  in  our  periodicals  who  openly  states  that 
such  acts  ought  not  to  be  considered  criminal  and  says 
that  matrimony  between  men  should  be  made  possible," 
said  Skovorddnikof,  audibly  and  greedily  inhaling  the 
smoke  from  the  crushed  cigarette  which  he  held  between 
his  fingers  close  to  the  palm  and  laughing  aloud. 

"You  don't  mean  it?" 

"Certainly,  I  will  show  it  to  you,"  he  replied,  quoting 
the  full  title,  the  year  and  place  of  publication. 

"  I  heard  that  he  was  to  be  appointed  Governor  in  some 
city  in  Siberia,"  remarked  Nikitin. 

"  So  much  the  better.  The  Bishop  will  meet  him  with 
a  crucifix.  The  Bishop  should  be  of  the  same  feather. 
I  could  recommend  them  a  suitable  one,"  said  Skovordd- 
nikof,  and  throwing  the  stump  of  the  cigarette  into  his 
saucer,  took  into  his  mouth  as  much  of  his  beard  and 
mustache  as  was  possible  and  began  chewing  them. 

Just  then  the  usher  appeared  and  reported  the  desire 
of  Nekhludof  and  his  counsel  to  be  present  during  the 
hearing  of  Mdslova's  case. 

"That's  a  remarkable  and  romantic  case,"  said  Wolf, 
and  related  what  he  knew  of  Nekhludof's  relations  to 
Mdslova. 

They  discussed  it  for  a  while,  and  finishing  their  cigar 
ettes  and  their  tea  returned  to  the  Senate  Chamber. 
The  decision  in  the  previous  case  was  announced  and 
Mdslova's  case  opened. 

In  his  thin  voice  Wolf  made  a  full  report  of  Maslova's 
appeal,  and  this  time  also  with  a  personal  bias,  evidently 
wishing  to  have  the  judgment  vacated. 

"Have  you  anything  to  add?"  said  the  Presiding  Sen 
ator  to  Fanarin. 

Fan&rin  rose,  and  throwing  out  his  broad  white  chest 
began  with  remarkable  persuasiveness  and  precision  to 


72  RESURRECTION 

prove  the  misinterpretation  of  the  law  by  the  Court  in  six 
points.  He  also  took  the  liberty  to  touch  briefly  upon  the 
merits  of  the  case  and  the  evident  injustice  of  the  sentence. 
But  the  substance  of  his  brief  yet  forceful  address  seemed 
an  apology  for  his  insistence  on  a  matter  which  the  Sen 
ators  with  their  sagacity  and  knowledge  of  the  law  should 
know  far  better  than  he.  He  said  he  considered  it  his 
duty  to  speak,  because  of  the  obligation  he  had  to  dis 
charge.  After  Fandrin's  speech  there  seemed  very  little 
reason  to  doubt  that  the  Senate  would  set  aside  the 
decision  of  the  Court.  As  he  finished  his  plea  Fanarin 
smiled  triumphantly.  When  Nekhludof  looked  at  his 
lawyer  and  saw  him  smile,  he  felt  sure  that  the  case  was 
won;  but  when  he  turned  to  look  at  the  Senators,  he 
realized  that  Fan&rin  was  the  only  one  who  was  smiling 
and  triumphant. 

The  Senators  and  the  Assistant  of  the  Public  Prosecutor 
neither  smiled  nor  triumphed;  they  looked  like  men  bored 
to  death,  who  seem  to  say  to  themselves  and  to  each  other: 
"  We  have  heard  men  like  you  talk  before  now,  but  what 
does  it  all  amount  to?  Nothing!"  They  were  appar 
ently  much  relieved  when  the  lawyer  had  finished  and 
was  no  longer  detaining  them  for  no  purpose.  As  soon 
as  his  speech  came  to  an  end,  the  Presiding  Senator 
addressed  the  Assistant  of  the  Public  Prosecutor.  In  a 
few  brief  and  explicit  words  Sele*nin  declared  that  he  had 
heard  nothing  in  the  appeal  that  would  warrant  the 
reversal  of  the  Judgment.  The  Senators  then  rose  and 
went  into  the  consulting-room.  Here  the  votes  were 
divided.  Wolf  favored  the  revision.  Be*,  grasping  the 
matter,  was  also  on  the  side  of  revision,  vividly  picturing 
to  the  Senators  the  scene  in  the  Court  and  the  misunder 
standing  of  the  jury  as  he  rightly  interpreted  it.  Nikitin, 
never  inclined  to  be  lenient  and  who  always  believed  in 
strict  formality,  was  opposed  to  it.  The  matter  therefore 
depended  on  the  vote  of  Skovorddnikof,  and  this  vote  was 
cast  against  a  reversal,  chiefly  because  Nekhludof 's 


RESURRECTION  73 

determination  to  marry  the  girl  was  repugnant  to  him  on 
moral  grounds.  Skovor6dnikof  was  a  materialist,  a 
Darwinian,  and  looked  upon  all  manifestations  of 
abstract  morality  or  of  religious  beliefs  not  only  as  des 
picable  folly  but  as  a  personal  affront  to  himself.  All 
this  fuss  about  a  prostitute  in  the  Senate  and  the  presence 
of  Nekhludof  and  the  famous  attorney  who  defended  her 
were  extremely  distasteful  to  him.  And  he  resumed  the 
process  of  stuffing  his  beard  into  his  mouth  and  making 
grimaces,  pretending  that  he  knew  nothing  whatever  in 
regard  to  the  details  of  the  case,  but  of  one  thing  he  was 
assured  and  this  was  that  the  reasons  assigned  for  making 
an  appeal  were  inadequate  and  therefore  he  agreed  with 
the  Presiding  Senator  in  denying  the  appeal. 
The  petition  was  denied. 

XXII. 

"TERRIBLE!"  said  Nekhludof,  as  he  went  out  into  the 
waiting-room  with  the  lawyer,  who  was  putting  his  papers 
into  his  portfolio.  "  Whatever  may  be  the  justice  of  your 
case,  they  will  discover  flaws  in  the  form  and  refuse.  It's 
terrible!" 

"The  case  was  mismanaged  in  the  Court,"  replied  the 
lawyer. 

"Sele*nin,  too,  is  in  favor  of  rejection.  Terrible. 
Terrible,"  repeated  Nekhludof.  "What  is  to  be  done 
now?" 

"We  will  petition  His  Imperial  Majesty.  Present  the 
petition  yourself  while  you  are  in  Petersburg.  I  will  write 
it  out  for  you." 

Meanwhile  little  Wolf,  with  his  decorations  and  uni 
form,  came  out  into  the  reception  room  and  went  up  to 
Nekhludof. 

"It's  too  bad,  my  dear  Prince.  You  hadn't  sufficient 
grounds,"  he  said,  shrugging  his  shoulders  and  closing  his 
eyes  as  he  passed  along  on  his  way.  After  Wolf  came 


74  RESURRECTION 

Sel£nin,  who  had  been  told  by  the  Senators  that  his 
former  friend  Nekhliidof  was  here. 

"I  certainly  had  not  expected  to  meet  you,"  he  said, 
walking  up  to  Nekhludof  with  a  smile  on  his  lips,  while 
his  eyes  remained  sad.  "I  had  no  idea  you  were  in 
Petersburg." 

"  And  I  did  not  know  that  you  were  a  Public  Prosecutor. " 

"Assistant,"  Sel^nin  corrected  him.  "How  did  you 
happen  to  come  to  the  Senate  ?  I  heard  that  you  were  in 
Petersburg,  but  how  came  you  here?" 

"How?  Because  I  had  hoped  to  find  justice  and  to 
save  an  innocent  woman." 

"What  woman?" 

"The  one  in  the  case  that  has  just  been  decided." 

"Ah,  Mdslova's  case,"  said  Selenin,  remembering. 
"That  was  an  unfounded  appeal." 

"The  question  is  not  of  the  appeal,  but  of  the  woman, 
who  is  innocent  and  is  being  punished." 

Sele*nin  sighed. 

"Perhaps,  but " 

"There  is  no  perhaps  about  it;  it  is  an  indubitable 
fact." 

"How  do  you  know?" 

"  Because  I  was  a  juror.  I  know  how  the  mistake  was 
made." 

Sel&iin  reflected. 

"You  should  have  made  it  known  at  the  time,"  he  said. 

"I  did." 

"The  statement  should  have  been  added  to  the  case. 
If  it  had  been  joined  to  the  petition  for  appeal " 

"But  it  is  perfectly  plain  that  the  verdict  was  absurd." 

"The  Senate  has  not  the  right  to  say  this.  If  the 
Senate  should  undertake  to  set  aside  the  judgment  of 
Courts  in  accordance  with  its  own  views  as  to  the  justice 
of  such  judgments, — leaving  out  of  consideration  that 
the  Senate  would  have  no  basis  for  such  action  and  would 
rather  run  the  risk  of  impeding  Justice  than  of  upholding 


RESURRECTION  75 

it  —  the  verdicts  of  the  jury  would  lose  all  their  meaning,' 
said  Selenin,  referring  in  his  mind  to  the  preceding  case. 

"One  thing  is  certain.  This  woman  is  entirely  inno 
cent,  and  the  last  hope  of  saving  her  from  undeserved 
punishment  is  lost.  The  highest  court  has  confirmed  a 
lawless  act." 

"No,  it  did  not,  because  it  could  not  nor  can  it  enter 
into  the  merits  of  the  case,"  said  Selenin,  squinting. 

Always  absorbed  in  work  and  rarely  going  into  society, 
he  evidently  had  not  heard  of  Nekhludof's  romance. 
Realizing  the  fact,  Nekhludof  decided  that  he  would 
better  not  mention  his  special  relations  with  Mdslova. 

"I  suppose  you  are  staying  with  your  aunt,"  said 
Selenin,  evidently  wishing  to  change  the  subject.  "I 
heard  last  night  that  you  were  here.  Countess  Katerina 
Ivdnovna  sent  me  an  invitation  to  meet  you  at  a  gathering 
where  a  foreign  preacher  was  to  speak,"  he  added, 
smiling  with  his  lips  only. 

"Yes,  I  was  there,  but  left  in  disgust,"  replied  Nekhlii 
dof  in  a  vexed  tone,  annoyed  that  Selenin  wanted  to  turn 
the  conversation. 

"  Why  then  in  disgust  ?  At  all  events  it's  an  evidence 
of  religious  feeling,  though  it  may  be  one-sided  and 
sectarian,"  said  Seldnin. 

"It's  arrant  nonsense,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"  Not  at  all.  The  strange  part  of  it  is,  that  we  know  so 
little  of  the  doctrines  of  our  church  that  we  receive  our 
own  dogmas  like  a  new  revelation,"  said  Sele*nin,  as 
though  eager  to  inform  his  former  friend  of  his  new  views. 

Nekhludof  looked  at  Selenin  with  real  surprise.  The 
latter  did  not  lower  his  eyes,  which  expressed  not  only 
sadness  but  a  certain  hostility. 

"Do  you  believe  in  the  dogmas  of  the  church?"  asked 
Nekhludof. 

"I  certainly  do,"  replied  Selenin,  looking  into  Nekh- 
liidof's  eyes  with  a  direct  but  lifeless  gaze. 

Nekhludof  sighed.     "  I  am  surprised,"  he  said. 


76  RESURRECTION 

"But  we  can  discuss  this  later,"  said  Sele*nin.  "Yes. 
I  am  coming,"  he  said  to  the  usher  who  had  respectfully 
approached  him.  "We  must  certainly  see  each  other," 
he  added  with  a  sigh.  "  But  when  shall  I  find  you  in  ? 
I  always  dine  at  home  at  7  P.M.,  Nad£jdenskaya,"  and  he 
gave  his  number.  "  Many  things  have  changed  since  the 
old  days,"  he  added,  as  he  turned  to  go,  smiling  only  with 
his  lips. 

"I  will  come  if  I  have  time,"  said  NekhMdof,  feeling 
that  the  man  who  was  once  so  near  and  dear  to  him  had 
after  this  brief  talk  become  suddenly  strange,  remote, 
and  incomprehensible,  if  not  altogether  hostile. 

XXIII. 

WHEN  Nekhliidof  had  known  Sele*nin  as  a  University 
student,  he  was  a  good  son,  a  faithful  friend,  and  for  his 
years  a  well-educated  society  man,  with  a  great  deal  of 
tact,  good-looking,  and  well  groomed,  and  at  the  same 
time  truthful  and  honest.  He  learned  easily,  was  not  pe 
dantic,  and  had  been  awarded  gold  medals  for  his  themes. 
Not  in  words  alone,  but  actions,  he  made  service  to  man 
the  aim  of  his  young  life.  He  did  not  consider  such 
service  possible  in  any  other  way  but  by  serving  the 
State;  and  so,  having  finished  his  University  course,  he 
considered  systematically  the  various  fields  of  activity 
in  which  he  might  labor,  and  deciding  that  he  would  be 
most  useful  in  the  Second  Department  of  His  Majesty's 
Chancery,  where  the  laws  were  made,  he  entered  it. 
But  in  spite  of  his  punctual  and  conscientious  perform 
ance  of  every  duty  imposed  on  him,  he  did  not  succeed  in 
satisfying  his  desire  to  be  useful  to  mankind  and  could  not 
bring  himself  to  feel  that  he  was  doing  "the  right  thing." 
Owing  to  some  friction  with  a  petty  and  ostentatious 
chief,  his  dissatisfaction  resulted  in  his  resignation  and 
subsequent  entrance  into  the  Senate,  where  he  was  more 
contented,  but  even  there  the  same  feeling  of  dissatis- 


RESURRECTION  77 

faction  pursued  him.  He  had  felt  all  along  that  it  was 
not  what  he  had  expected  or  what  he  sought  to  be  doing. 
While  in  the  Senate  his  relatives  had  succeeded  in  ob 
taining  for  him  an  appointment  as  "  Kammer- Junker  ,'u 
and  he  was  obliged  to  drive  in  a  closed  carriage,  wearing 
his  embroidered  uniform  and  his  white  linen  apron,  to 
thank  all  sorts  of  people  for  his  appointment  to  a 
lackey's  position.  It  was  simply  impossible  to  conceive 
of  any  satisfactory  explanation  for  the  existence  of  a 
post  so  anomalous, — and  more  than  ever  he  felt  that  it 
was  not  "the  thing."  Still,  he  could  not  refuse  the 
appointment,  lest  by  so  doing  he  offend  those  who  were 
certain  that  they  were  pleasing  him;  and  the  truth  was 
that  this  appointment  did  flatter  him  in  a  way,  and  he 
was  pleased  to  see  himself  in  a  mirror  in  a  gold-embroi 
dered  coat  and  to  enjoy  respect  paid  to  him  by  a  certain 
class  of  persons. 

The  same  thing  happened  to  him  in  regard  to  marriage. 
A  very  brilliant  marriage  had,  from  a  worldly  point  of 
view,  been  arranged  for  him.  His  chief  reason  for  marry 
ing  was  because,  had  he  refused,  he  would  have  annoyed 
and  pained  the  family  of  the  bride  and  his  own  people  who 
arranged  this  match,  and  also  because  it  pleased  him  and 
gratified  his  ambition  to  marry  a  young  and  pretty  girl  of 
good  family.  But  it  was  not  long  before  married  life 
proved  still  less  satisfactory  than  his  government  service 
and  the  post  at  Court.  After  the  birth  of  the  first  child 
his  wife  objected  to  having  any  more  children  and  plunged 
into  society  life,  in  which  he  also  felt  obliged  to  take  a 
part. 

She  was  not  particularly  handsome,  but  she  was  true  to 
him,  and  although  she  spoiled  her  husband's  life  and 
gained  by  her  extravagant  waste  of  time  and  strength  but 
a  small  proportion  of  pleasure  compared  with  the  exces 
sive  weariness  entailed,  she  still  persevered  in  it.  All  his 
efforts  to  alter  it  were  like  dashing  one's  head  against  a 

1  Gentleman  of  the  Bed  Chamber.  —  Tn. 


78  RESURRECTION 

stone  wall,  so  adamantine  was  her  conviction,  supported 
by  that  of  all  her  kinsfolk  and  friends,  that  this  was  the 
proper  life  to  lead. 

The  child,  a  girl  with  long  golden  locks  and  bare  legs, 
was  like  a  stranger  to  the  father,  the  more  so  as  she  was 
not  brought  up  as  he  wished. 

A  mutual  misunderstanding,  or  to  speak  plainly,  the 
absence  of  a  desire  to  understand  each  other,  and  a  quite 
silent  struggle,  concealed  from  outsiders  and  tempered 
by  a  wish  to  preserve  appearances,  made  his  home  life 
anything  but  agreeable.  His  married  life  proved  to  be 
still  less  "the  right  thing"  than  his  government  position 
or  the  post  at  Court. 

His  views  on  the  subject  of  religion  were  still  less  satis 
factory.  Like  all  the  men  of  his  circle  and  his  time  he 
had  during  the  progress  of  his  intellectual  growth  easily 
shaken  off  the  fetters  of  religious  superstition  in  which  he 
had  been  reared,  without  actually  realizing  just  when  the 
change  took  place.  As  an  earnest  and  honest  man  he  had 
never  concealed  his  freedom  from  religious  official  super 
stition.  This  was  in  the  young  days  of  his  student  life 
and  his  friendship  with  Nekhliidof. 

But  as  the  years  went  on,  bringing  him  advancement 
in  government  service,  especially  during  the  Conservative 
reaction  which  set  in  about  that  time,  this  spiritual  free 
dom  stood  in  his  way.  Not  alone  in  his  home  life,  partic 
ularly  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death  followed  by  the 
requiems  for  his  soul,  and  because  his  mother  wished  him 
to  prepare  to  receive  communion,  which  public  opinion 
also  demanded,  but  he  was  also  compelled,  in  conformity 
with  his  duties,  to  be  present  at  Te  Deums,  the  consecra 
tion  of  buildings,  thanksgiving  payers,  and  other  church 
services  of  similar  nature.  Hardly  a  day  passed  without 
his  participation  in  some  outward  forms  of  religion  which 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  escape.  He  had  to  choose 
one  of  the  two  courses,  either  to  pretend  that  he  believed 
what  he  did  not  believe — which  was  very  much  against 


RESURRECTION  79 

his  habitual  truthfulness — or  else  openly  declare  that  he 
regarded  all  outward  forms  as  false  and  arrange  his  life 
in  some  way  by  which  he  could  avoid  the  necessity  of 
taking  part  in  what  he  believed  to  be  false.  But  to  be  able 
to  accomplish  this  apparently  trifling  matter  required  a 
great  deal  of  courage.  Not  only  would  it  be  necessary  to 
be  always  opposing  the  people  about  him,  but  he  must 
change  his  whole  life  and  give  up  his  government  position, 
thereby  sacrificing  his  projects  for  the  good  of  mankind 
which  he  had  already  begun  and  had  hoped  to  be  able  to 
continue  with  greater  efficiency  in  the  future. 

To  make  this  sacrifice  one  would  have  to  believe  firmly 
in  being  in  the  right.  And  he  did  firmly  believe  that  he 
was  in  the  right,  as  no  educated  man  of  our  day  can  help 
being  convinced  of  the  soundness  of  his  own  common 
sense,  especially  if  he  has  studied  history  and  knows  the 
origin  of  religions  in  general  and  the  origin  and  divisions 
in  the  Christian  Church.  He  could  not  help  knowing 
that  he  was  in  the  right  when  he  did  not  recognize  the 
truth  of  the  Church  doctrines.  Yet,  under  the  stress  of 
daily  life  and  believing  himself  to  be  honest  and  upright, 
he  still  allowed  a  trifling  falsehood  to  creep  in.  He  said 
to  himself  that  in  order  to  disbelieve  what  seemed  un 
reasonable,  one  should  at  first  make  a  study  of  such  mat 
ters.  It  was  this  trifling  falsehood  which  sank  him  into 
the  mire  of  greater  falsehoods  in  which  he  now  was 
swamped. 

But  when  he  asked  himself  whether  the  Orthodox  reli 
gion  in  which  he  was  born  and  brought  up,  without  which 
he  would  not  be  able  to  continue  his  work,  and  which 
people  about  him  expected  him  to  profess  was  true,  he  had 
already  solved  the  question  beforehand.  But  to  throw 
further  light  on  the  subject  he  did  not  study  Voltaire, 
Schopenhauer,  Spencer,  or  Comte,  but  read  Hegel  and 
the  religious  works  of  Vinet  and  Homiak<5f,  naturally 
finding  there  what  he  sought, — a  semblance  of  peace  and 
a  vindication  of  the  doctrines  in  which  he  was  brought  up, 


8o  RESURRECTION 

but  which  his  common  sense  had  long  since  rejected,  and 
the  lack  of  which  had  filled  his  life  with  unpleasantness. 
All  this  would  vanish  forthwith  if  he  but  accepted  them. 
So  he  adopted  the  usual  sophistries,  such  as  the  incapacity 
of  the  human  brain  to  grasp  the  truth  which  can  only  be 
revealed  to  an  association  of  men,  or  that  the  only  way 
of  knowing  it  is  by  Revelation,  which  is  preserved  in  the 
Church,  and  so  on.  Since  then  he  could  calmly  and  with 
out  the  consciousness  of  telling  a  lie  assist  at  Te  Deums, 
Requiems,  Masses,  could  go  to  confession  or  make  the  sign 
of  the  cross  before  the  ikons  and  continue  his  govern 
ment  service,  which  assured  him  of  his  personal  useful 
ness  and  brought  a  sense  of  relief  into  his  joyless  married 
life.  He  thought  that  he  believed,  and  yet  he  was  conscious 
at  the  bottom  of  his  heart  that  this  profession  of  faith  that 
he  was  making  was  further  than  anything  else  from  being 
"the  real  thing."  And  it  was  this  that  made  his  eyes  al 
ways  look  so  sad.  That  is  the  reason  why  upon  recog 
nizing  Nekhludof,  whom  he  had  known  before  all  these 
errors  had  taken  root,  that  his  former  habits  of  thought 
returned  to  his  mind.  And  particularly  after  he  had 
spoken  to  Nekhludof,  implying,  rather  than  stating,  his 
religious  views,  he  felt  more  keenly  than  ever  that  it  was 
not  "the  right  thing"  and  straightway  became  sad  and 
distressed.  Nekhludof  also  felt  the  same  emotion  after 
the  first  impression  of  pleasure  on  seeing  his  old  friend. 
That  was  the  reason  why,  having  promised  to  see 
each  other,  neither  of  the  men  felt  anxious  for  this  re 
union;  and  so  they  did  not  meet  again  during  Nekhludof 's 
stay  in  Petersburg. 

XXIV. 

ON  leaving  the  Senate,  Nekhludof  and  his  lawyer  walked 
on  for  a  time;  the  latter,  giving  orders  for  the  carriage  to 
follow,  began  to  tell  Nekhludof  the  history  of  the  Director 
of  the  government  department  whom  the  Senators  had 
been  discussing, — how  he  had  been  found  out,  and  how 


RESURRECTION  81 

instead  of  sentencing  him  to  hard  labor,  which  according 
to  law  he  really  deserved,  he  was  to  be  appointed  a 
Governor  in  Siberia.  He  related  this  tale,  accompanied 
by  very  unpleasant  details,  and  with  evident  relish  began 
another  story  of  thefts  committed  by  men  in  high  positions, 
and  in  this  case  the  money  was  destined  for  the  unfinished 
monument  they  had  passed  that  morning;  and  how  the 
mistress  of  a  millionaire  had  made  millions  in  stocks; 
how  one  man  had  sold  his  wife  and  another  had  bought 
one,  and  so  on.  Just  then  he  was  beginning  to  tell 
another  story  of  the  rascalities  and  crimes  of  high  officials, 
who  were  not  imprisoned  but  still  presiding  over  various 
institutions.  These  stories — and  the  lawyer  seemed  to 
have  an  unlimited  supply — gave  him  much  pleasure, 
for  they  served  to  show  that  the  means  used  by  him  to 
earn  money  were  entirely  correct  and  innocent  compared 
with  means  used  for  the  same  purpose  by  the  high  officials 
in  Petersburg.  He  was  therefore  greatly  surprised  when 
Nekhludof,  without  listening  to  the  end  of  his  last  story 
about  the  criminal  actions  of  important  officials,  said 
good-by,  hired  an  izvostchik,  and  drove  home. 

Nekhludof  felt  very  sad.  He  was  chiefly  sad  because 
the  appeal  of  Maslova  was  disallowed  by  the  Senate, 
thereby  confirming  her  senseless  torture,  and  because 
this  rejection  made  his  unalterable  decision  to  unite  his 
fate  with  hers  still  more  difficult.  This  sadness  was 
moreover  deepened  by  the  terrible  tales  of  existing  evils, 
which  the  lawyer  had  related  with  such  gusto,  and  he 
could  not  forget  the  cold,  unkind,  inimical  look  which 
the  once  sweet-natured,  frank,  and  noble  Selenin  had 
given  him. 

When  Nekhludof  returned,  the  door-keeper  handed 
him  a  note  which  a  certain  woman,  as  he  expressed  it, 
somewhat  ironically,  had  written  in  the  hall. 

It  was*  a  note  from  Shustova's  mother.  She  wrote  that 
she  had  come  to  thank  the  benefactor  of  her  daughter  and 
also  to  implore  him  to  call  at  their  house  on  Vassilievsky 

VOL.   II. — 6 


82  RESURRECTION 

Island,  5th  Line,  house  No.  — .  Ve*ra  Efre*movna  felt,  so 
she  wrote,  that  she  really  must  see  him.  He  need  not  fear 
to  be  burdened  with  expressions  of  gratitude,  —  that  sub 
ject  would  not  be  mentioned,  —  they  would  simply  be 
glad  to  see  him.  Could  he  come  to-morrow  morning? 

The  other  note  was  from  his  former  friend  Bogatyrif, 
an  aide-de-camp  of  the  Emperor,  whom  Nekhlridof  asked 
to  hand  to  the  Emperor  personally  the  petition  he  had 
prepared  in  behalf  of  the  sectarians.  In  his  large,  firm 
handwriting  Bogatyre*f  wrote  that  he  would  hand  the  peti 
tion  to  the  Emperor  personally,  but  that  it  had  occurred 
to  him  that  it  would  perhaps  be  better  for  Nekhliidof 
himself  to  call  on  the  person  on  whom  this  matter  de 
pended  and  petition  him  in  the  first  place. 

After  the  impressions  of  the  last  few  days  of  his  stay  in 
Petersburg,  Nekhludof  felt  utterly  hopeless  in  regard  to 
all  the  projects.  The  plans  he  had  made  in  Moscow  now 
appeared  to  him  mere  youthful  dreams,  in  which  people 
who  enter  enthusiastically  on  life's  path  are  unavoidably 
disappointed.  Still,  while  in  Petersburg  he  considered  it 
his  duty  to  do  what  lay  in  his  power,  and  decided  that 
after  seeing  Bogatyre'f  to-morrow,  he  would  follow  his 
advice  and  call  on  the  person  on  whom  the  case  of  the 
sectarians  depended. 

Taking  the  petition  of  the  sectarians  from  his  pocket, 
he  was  reading  it  over,  when  he  heard  a  knock  on  the 
door  and  a  footman  of  Katerina  Ivanovna  came  in  to 
invite  him  upstairs  to  take  a  cup  of  tea. 

Nekhludof  said  that  he  would  come  in  a  moment,  and 
putting  away  his  papers  in  the  portfolio  he  went  upstairs 
to  his  aunt.  From  a  window  in  the  hall  on  his  way  up 
stairs  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  Mariette's  span  of  bays,  and 
all  at  once  his  spirits  rose  and  he  felt  like  smiling. 

Mariette,  no  longer  in  black  hat,  wearing  a  gay  hat  and 
a  light  gown  of  many  colors,  was  seated  beside  the  Coun 
tess's  easy-chair,  holding  a  cup  of  tea  in  her  hand  and 
prattling  gaily  while  her  beaming  eyes  glistened  with 


RESURRECTION  83 

merry  laughter.  Nekhludof  entered  the  room  just  as 
Mariette  had  finished  telling  a  funny  story,  funny  and  im 
proper,  as  Nekhludof  divined  from  the  way  they  laughed. 
The  good-natured  Countess  Katerina  Ivanovna,  with  the 
shaded  lip,  was  shaking  with  laughter,  while  Mariette 
with  a  peculiarly  mischievous  expression,  her  mouth 
slightly  drawn  to  one  side,  her  head  lowered,  with  a  keen, 
wide-awake  expression  was  looking  silently  at  the  hostess. 
From  the  few  words  that  reached  his  ears,  Nekhludof 
knew  that  they  were  talking  of  the  second  piece  of  news 
in  Petersburg  at  that  time,  namely  the  episode  of  the 
Siberian  Governor,  when  Mariette  had  said  something 
so  funny  in  regard  to  it,  that  for  some  time  the  Countess 
could  not  control  herself. 

"  You  will  be  the  death  of  me,"  she  said,  coughing. 

Nekhludof  greeted  them  and  took  a  seat.  He  was  just 
on  the  point  of  criticising  Mariette  for  her  light-minded 
ness,  when  she,  noticing  the  serious  and  somewhat  dis 
satisfied  expression  of  his  face,  suddenly  and  to  please 
him,  —  and  this  had  been  the  object  of  her  ambition  ever 
since  she  had  met  him,  — changed  not  only  the  expression 
of  her  face,  but  her  actual  feelings.  In  a  twinkling  of  an 
eye  she  became  serious,  dissatisfied  with  her  own  life, 
seeking  something,  striving  after  something.  She  was 
not  making  believe,  but  really  seemed  to  have  absorbed 
Nekhliidof's  attitude  of  mind  at  that  time,  though  she 
couldn't  possibly  have  given  any  reason  for  it. 

She  inquired  how  he  had  succeeded  with  his  business. 
He  told  her  about  the  disappointment  in  the  Senate  and 
about  his  meeting  Sele'nin. 

"Ah,  there's  a  pure  soul!  Indeed  he  is  a  chevalier 
sans  peur  et  sans  reproche"  "A  pure  soul"  both  ladies 
repeated,  applying  to  him  the  name  commonly  given  him 
in  society. 

"How  about  his  wife?"  asked  Nekhliidof. 

"His  wife?  Well,  I  will  not  criticise  her,  but  she  does 
not  understand  him." 


84  RESURRECTION 

"  Is  it  possible  that  he,  too,  favored  the  dismissal  of  the 
appeal?"  she  asked  with  genuine  sympathy.  "That's 
terrible!  How  I  pity  her!"  she  added  with  a  sigh. 

He  frowned  and  by  way  of  changing  the  subject  began 
to  speak  about  Shustova,  who  had  been  imprisoned  in  the 
Fortress  and  had  now  been  set  free  at  her  request. 
Thanking  her  for  influencing  her  husband,  he  was  just 
going  to  say  how  dreadful  it  was  that  this  woman  and 
all  her  family  were  suffering  just  because  no  one  had 
thought  of  them,  when  she  interrupted  him  to  give  utter 
ance  to  her  own  indignation. 

"Don't  say  another  word,"  she  exclaimed.  "As  soon 
as  my  husband  told  me  that  she  was  to  be  liberated,  the 
first  thought  that  came  into  my  mind  was,  'Why  had  she 
been  kept  there  if  she  was  innocent?'  It's  absolutely 
shocking!  shocking!" 

Countess  Katerina  Ivanovna  saw  that  Mariette  was 
flirting  with  her  nephew  and  was  amused. 

"Let  me  tell  you,"  she  said  to  Nekhliidof  when  they 
ceased  talking,  "come  to  Aline's  to-morrow  evening. 
Kiesewetter  will  be  there.  And  you  too,"  she  added,  ad 
dressing  Mariette.  "//  vous  a  remarque"  she  said  to  her 
nephew.  "He  told  me — for  I  repeated  to  him  all  you 
said — that  what  you  say  is  a  good  sign,  and  that  you  will 
surely  come  to  Christ.  Be  sure  and  come.  Tell  him  to 
come,  Mariette,  and  come  yourself." 

"  In  the  first  place  I  have  no  right  to  advise  the  Prince 
about  anything  whatsoever,"  said  Mariette,  looking  at 
Nekhliidof  and  by  that  glance  establishing  between  them 
a  full  agreement  concerning  Evangelicism  in  general  and 
the  words  of  the  Countess,  "and  secondly,  you  know,  I 
am  not  very  fond  of " 

"Yes,  you  will  always  have  your  own  way!  No  one 
has  any  control  over  you." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  I  believe  like  any  com 
mon  peasant  woman,"  she  said,  smiling.  "And  in  the 
third  place  I  am  going  to  the  French  Theater." 


RESURRECTION  85 

"Ah!  And  have  you  seen  that — well,  what  is  her 
name?"  said  Katerina  Ivanovna  to  Nekhludof. 

Mariette  repeated  the  name  of  the  famous  French 
actress. 

"Be  sure  and  go.  She  is  wonderful,"  said  the  Count 
ess  to  Nekhludof. 

"  Well,  whom  am  I  to  see  first,  ma  tante,  the  actress  or 
the  preacher?"  asked  Nekhludof,  smiling. 

"Don't  you  trip  me  up  on  my  own  words." 

"I  think  I  would  better  see  the  preacher  first  and  the 
French  actress  later,  otherwise  I  run  the  risk  of  losing 
all  interest  in  the  sermon,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"  I  advise  you  to  begin  with  the  French  Theater  and  do 
penance  afterwards,"  said  Mariette. 

"  Stop  making  fun  of  me.  The  preacher  is  all  right  in 
one  way  and  the  theater  in  another.  It  is  not  at  all  neces 
sary  to  pull  a  long  face  and  weep  all  the  time  to  be  saved. 
You  must  believe  and  then  you  will  be  cheerful." 

"You  preach  better  than  all  the  preachers,  ma  tante" 

"Now  let  me  think,"  said  Mariette.  "Why  couldn't 
you  come  to  my  box  to-morrow  ?" 

"I  fear  I  shall  not  be  able  to  come." 

Here  the  conversation  was  interrupted  by  the  footman, 
who  announced  a  visitor.  It  was  the  Secretary  of  a 
benevolent  Society,  of  which  the  Countess  was  president. 

"  Oh,  he  is  a  tedious  person !  I  had  better  receive  him 
in  the  other  room.  I  will  join  you  later.  Give  him  some 
tea,  Mariette,"  she  added,  as  she  briskly  left  the  room 
with  her  waddling  gait. 

Mariette  took  off  her  gloves  and  bared  her  firm,  flat 
hand,  whose  fourth  finger  was  covered  with  rings. 

"Will  you  have  some  tea?"  she  said,  taking  the  silver 
teapot  from  the  spirit-stand  and  holding  her  little  finger 
stiffly  aloft  from  the  others.  Her  face  grew  sad  and 
serious. 

"It  always  makes  me  feel  very,  very  sad  when  people 


86  RESURRECTION 

whose  good  opinion  I  value  confound  me  with  the  position 
in  which  I  am  placed." 

She  seemed  ready  to  cry  as  she  said  these  words,  and 
though  had  they  been  analyzed  they  would  not  have  been 
found  to  contain  any  special  or  definite  meaning,  they 
appealed  to  Nekhludof  as  thoughtful,  sincere,  and  kindly, 
so  attractive  was  the  glance  from  the  shining  eyes  which 
accompanied  the  words  of  this  young  and  well-dressed 
woman. 

Nekhliidof  watched  her  in  silence  and  could  not  take 
his  eyes  from  her. 

"  You  think  I  don't  understand  you  and  what  is  going 
on  within  you?  What  you  have  done  is  known  to  all. 
C'est  le  secret  de  polichinelle.  I  admire  and  approve  of  it." 

"There  is  nothing  to  admire.  I  have  as  yet  accom 
plished  so  little." 

"That  makes  no  difference.  I  understand  your  feel 
ings  and  I  understand  her.  .  .  .  Very  well,  I  will  say  no 
more.  .  .  . "  She  interrupted  herself,  noticing  a  shadow 
of  displeasure  on  his  face.  "  But  I  can  also  understand 
that  seeing  all  this  misery,  all  these  horrors  that  are 
going  on  in  the  prisons  — "  Mariette  went  on,  having 
but  one  thought  in  her  mind  —  the  wish  to  attract  him  — 
and  guessing  with  her  woman's  instinct  what  he  prized 
and  treasured.  "You  want  to  help  those  who  suffer, 
and  suffer  so  terribly  from  other  men,  from  indifference, 
or  cruelty.  ...  I  understand  how  one  can  give  up 
one's  life  to  it  and  I  would  give  up  mine  .  .  .  but 
each  one  has  his  fate.  .  .  . " 

"Are  you  dissatisfied  with  yours?" 

"I?"  she  said,  as  though  struck  with  surprise  that 
such  a  question  could  be  asked.  "  I  ought  to  be  contented 
and  I  am.  But  sometimes  one's  conscience  like  a  worm 
wakes  up.  ..." 

"And  it  should  not  be  allowed  to  fall  asleep  again," 
said  Nekhludof,  succumbing  to  the  influence  of  her  deceit. 

Many  times  later  Nekhludof  remembered  with  a  feeling 


RESURRECTION  87 

of  shame  his  conversation  with  her.  He  recalled  her  words, 
which  were  perhaps  unconscious  imitations  of  his  own 
rather  than  deliberate  falsehoods,  and  the  expression  of 
eager  attention  with  which  she  listened  when  he  told  her 
of  the  horrors  of  the  jail  and  of  his  experiences  in  the 
country. 

When  the  Countess  returned,  they  were  conversing  not 
only  like  old  friends  but  like  intimate  ones,  who  alone 
understood  each  other  amid  the  crowd  that  did  not  under 
stand  either  of  them. 

They  talked  of  the  injustice  of  power,  of  the  suf 
ferings  of  the  poor,  of  the  poverty  of  the  people,  but  in 
reality  those  eyes  that  gazed  at  each  other  while  they 
were  talking  kept  asking,  "Could  you  love  me?"  and 
replying,  "I  could,"  and  the  sex- feeling,  assuming  the 
most  unexpected  and  radiant  aspects,  drew  them  together. 

As  she  was  leaving  she  said  that  she  would  be  always 
ready  to  serve  him,  and  asked  him  to  be  sure  and  come 
to  her  box  to-morrow  night,  if  but  for  a  moment,  as  she 
had  something  important  to  tell  him. 

"For  when  shall  I  see  you  again?"  she  added  with  a 
sigh,  carefully  pulling  on  a  glove  over  her  jeweled  hand. 
"Please  promise  me  that  you  will  come." 

Nekhliidof  promised. 

That  night,  when  he  was  alone  in  his  room  and  had 
put  out  his  candle  and  gone  to  bed,  he  could  not  sleep  for 
a  long  time.  While  thinking  of  Ma"slova,  of  the  decision 
of  the  Senate,  of  his  own  resolution  to  follow  her,  and  of 
his  giving  up  the  ownership  of  his  land,  Mariette's  face 
loomed  before  him.  He  seemed  to  hear  her  sigh,  see  her 
eyes,  hear  her  say,  "When  shall  I  see  you  again?"  and 
smile,  —  all  as  distinctly  as  though  she  were  before  him. 
He  smiled.  "Am  I  doing  the  right  thing  in  going  to 
Siberia  ?  Will  it  be  right  for  me  to  deprive  myself  of  my 
wealth?"  he  asked  himself. 

The  clear  northern  light  streamed  through  the  closed 
window  blinds,  but  the  answers  to  all  these  questions 


88  RESURRECTION 

were  of  the  vaguest  description.  All  was  in  a  jumble. 
He  tried  to  feel  and  think  as  he  did  formerly,  but  the 
thoughts  were  uncertain.  "  And  what  if  all  this  should 
prove  but  an  empty  vision  evoked  by  my  own  imagina 
tion,  and  I  should  find  myself  unable  to  live  in  that  way  ? 
What  if  I  were  to  regret  having  done  this  thing,  which 
now  seems  right  to  me  ?"  he  said  to  himself,  and  unable  to 
solve  the  dilemma  he  felt  more  pained  and  distressed  than 
he  had  ever  felt  before.  Unable  to  solve  these  questions 
he  dropped  into  a  deep  sleep,  such  as  sometimes  used  to 
come  over  him  after  a  heavy  loss  at  cards. 

XXV. 

NEKHLtJDor's  first  impression  on  awakening  the  next 
morning  was  that  he  had  on  the  previous  day  done  some 
thing  wrong.  He  tried  to  remember.  No,  he  had  done 
nothing  wrong,  but  he  had  indulged  himself  in  brooding 
over  his  present  intentions,  —  his  marriage  with  Katusha, 
and  the  giving  up  of  his  land  to  peasants.  He  had  en 
deavored  to  persuade  himself  that  it  would  be  impossible 
ever  to  carry  out  such  vague  dreams;  it  was  all  too  artifi 
cial  and  unnatural;  that  it  was  his  duty  to  go  on  living 
as  he  had  lived  before.  No,  he  had  done  nothing  that 
was  really  wrong,  but  he  had  indulged  in  evil  thoughts, 
those  generators  of  evil  acts.  An  evil  act  need  not  be 
repeated  and  one  may  repent  of  it,  but  evil  thoughts  en 
gender  evil  acts.  One  evil  act  only  smooths  the  path  for 
other  evil  acts,  whereas  evil  thoughts  drag  one  helplessly 
along  down  that  path. 

In  recalling  his  thoughts  of  the  previous  night  he  won 
dered  how  he  could  even  for  a  moment  have  believed 
them  valid.  However  difficult  and  unfamiliar  the  things 
he  intended  to  do  might  be,  he  realized  that  it  was  the  only 
life  now  possible  for  him,  and  however  easy  it  might  seem 
to  return  to  his  former  life,  he  was  sure  it  would  mean 
death  to  him.  Yesterday's  temptation  made  him  think 


RESURRECTION  89 

of  a  man  who  indulges  himself  in  lying  in  bed  when  he 
knows  it  is  time  to  rise  and  set  about  beginning  the  day's 
work.  He  loves  to  lie  cuddled  in  his  bed,  though  wide 
awake  and  fully  realizing  that  it  is  time  for  him  to  rise 
and  start  on  the  important  and  joyful  work  that  awaits 
him. 

This  was  to  be  his  last  day  in  Petersburg,  and  he  went 
early  in  the  morning  to  Shustova  on  the  Vassflievsky 
Island.  Shiistova's  apartment  was  on  the  second  floor. 
The  house  porter  directed  him  to  the  back  staircase,  and 
climbing  a  steep  stairway  he  walked  into  a  stuffy  kitchen 
where  the  smell  of  cooking  was  almost  suffocating. 

An  elderly  woman  with  her  sleeves  rolled  up,  wearing 
an  apron  and  spectacles,  stood  beside  the  stove.  She  was 
stirring  something  in  a  steaming  pan.  "  Whom  did  you 
wish  to  see  ?"  she  asked  severely,  peering  at  the  newcomer 
over  her  spectacles. 

Nekhludof  had  hardly  uttered  his  name  when  an  ex 
pression  of  alarm  mingled  with  one  of  joy  came  over  her 
face. 

"Oh,  Prince!"  cried  the  woman,  drying  her  hands  on 
her  apron.  "  But  how  came  you  up  the  back  entrance  ? 
Our  benefactor!  I  am  her  mother.  They  came  near 
killing  my  girl.  You  have  been  our  saviour,"  she  ex 
claimed,  seizing  Nekhludof's  hand  and  trying  to  kiss  it. 
"I  called  on  you  yesterday.  My  sister  was  especially 
anxious  to  see  you.  She  is  here  with  us.  Please  come  this 
way;  follow  me,"  she  said,  as  she  escorted  him  through 
the  narrow  door  and  along  the  corridor,  all  the  while 
arranging  her  tucked-up  skirt  and  giving  touches  to  her 
hair.  "  Kornflova  is  my  sister.  You  may  have  heard  of 
her,"  she  added  in  a  whisper,  as  she  paused  at  the  door. 
"She  has  been  mixed  up  in  political  affairs.  She  is  a 
clever  woman " 

Opening  the  door  that  led  from  the  corridor,  Shustova 's 
mother  showed  Nekhludof  into  a  small  room,  where  a 
short,  rather  stout  young  girl  in  a  striped  cotton  jacket 


90  RESURRECTION 

was  seated  on  a  sofa  in  front  of  a  table.  Her  round,  pale 
face,  that  very  much  resembled  her  mother's,  was  framed 
with  wavy  blond  hair.  A  young  man  with  a  slight  black 
beard  and  mustache,  dressed  in  a  Russian  blouse  with 
an  embroidered  band  around  the  neck,  sat  in  an  arm 
chair  opposite,  leaning  over  her.  They  were  both  evi 
dently  so  engrossed  in  their  conversation  that  they 
never  turned  round  till  Nekhliidof  was  fairly  in  the 
room. 

"Lydia,  this  is  Prince  Nekhliidof,  the  same  one,  you 
know " 

The  girl  sprang  to  her  feet  with  a  nervous  motion,  push 
ing  back  an  unruly  strand  of  hair,  and  a  frightened  ex 
pression  came  into  her  large  gray  eyes  as  she  looked  at  the 


newcomer. 

ti 


Ah,  then  you  are  the  dangerous  woman  for  whom 
Vera  Efremovna  interceded,"  said  Nekhliidof  with  a 
smile,  extending  his  hand. 

"Yes,  I  am  that  same  woman,"  replied  Lydia,  as  with 
a  broad,  childlike  smile  she  displayed  a  row  of  beautiful 
teeth.  "It's  my  aunt  who  was  anxious  to  see  you. 
Aunty!"  she  called  through  the  door  in  a  sweet  gentle 
voice. 

"Vera  Efre'movna  was  much  grieved  to  have  you 
arrested,"  said  Nekhliidof. 

"  Will  you  take  a  seat  ?  No,  you  would  better  sit  here," 
said  Lydia,  pointing  to  the  stuffed  and  dilapidated  chair 
from  which  the  young  man  had  just  risen. 

"My  cousin,  Zakharof,"  she  said  as  she  noticed  the 
glance  that  Nekhliidof  gave  the  young  man. 

The  young  man  smiled  as  good-naturedly  as  Lydia  her 
self  had  done.  He  greeted  the  guest,  and  when  the  latter 
had  seated  himself,  he  took  a  chair  that  stood  by  the  win 
dow  and  placing  it  beside  Nekhliidof  also  sat  down.  A 
light-haired  boy,  a  pupil  in  a  public  school,  about  sixteen 
years  of  age,  came  in  through  another  door  and  silently 
seated  himself  on  the  window  sill. 


RESURRECTION  91 

"Ve'ra  Efre*movna  is  my  aunt's  great  friend,  but  I 
hardly  know  her." 

Just  then  a  woman  with  a  pleasant,  intelligent  face, 
who  wore  a  white  sack  belted  in  with  a  leather  belt,  came 
in  from  the  next  room. 

"Good-morning.  Thank  you  for  having  come,"  she 
began  the  moment  she  had  seated  herself  on  the  sofa 
near  Lydia.  "Do  tell  us  about  Vera.  How  is  she? 
Have  you  seen  her?  How  does  she  bear  her  present 
situation?" 

"  She  does  not  complain,"  said  Nekhludof.  "  She  says 
she  feels  like  the  Olympian  gods." 

"Ah,  how  I  recognize  Verotchka,"  said  the  aunt,  shak 
ing  her  head  and  smiling.  "One  needs  to  know  her. 
She  is  a  wonderful  character.  Everything  for  others,  and 
nothing  for  herelf." 

"  Very  true,  she  asked  no  favors  for  herself.  Her  only 
anxiety  was  for  your  niece.  She  was  particularly  dis 
tressed,  she  said,  because  she  had  been  arrested  without 
cause." 

"Yes,  yes,  it's  all  so  terrible.  The  truth  of  the  mat 
ter  is  that  she  was  really  a  scapegoat  for  me,"  said  the 
aunt. 

"Not  at  all,  aunty!  I  should  have  taken  care  of  the 
papers  anyway,"  said  Lydia. 

"Allow  me  to  know  better,"  said  the  aunt.  "You 
see,"  she  said,  turning  to  Nekhludof,  "this  is  how  it  was. 
A  certain  person  asked  me  to  take  care  of  the  papers  for 
a  while,  and  as  I  had  no  apartment  of  my  own,  I  brought 
them  to  her.  That  same  night  she  was  searched,  the 
papers  were  found,  and  she  was  arrested,  and  there  she 
has  remained  imprisoned  until  now,  because  they  wanted 
her  to  tell  from  whom  she  received  them." 

"And  I  didn't,"  said  Lydia  quickly,  nervously  twitch 
ing  her  hair  from  force  of  habit,  for  it  was  really  not  in 
her  way. 

"  I  didn't  say  you  did." 


92  RESURRECTION 

"If  they  got  hold  of  Mitin,  it  was  through  no  fault  of 
mine,"  said  Lydia,  blushing  and  glancing  about  uneasily. 

"  Don't  talk  about  it,  Lydia,"  said  the  mother. 

"Why  not?  I  should  like  to  tell,"  said  Lydia,  no 
longer  smiling  nor  pulling  her  hair,  but  twisting  a  strand 
of  it  over  her  finger  and  still  looking  around  the  room. 

"  You  know  what  happened  yesterday  when  you  began 
to  speak  about  it." 

"  That's  all  right  .  .  .  just  let  me  be,  mamma.  .  .  . 
I  said  nothing,  I  kept  still.  After  he  had  examined  me 
twice  in  regard  to  aunty  and  Mitin  I  had  told  him  nothing, 
except  that  I  would  not  answer.  Then  that  man, 
Petrov— " 

"Petrdv  is  a  great  scoundrel.  He  is  a  gendarme  and  a 
spy,"  interrupted  the  aunt,  explaining  to  Nekhliidof  her 
niece's  words. 

"Then,"  continued  Lydia,  hurriedly  and  excitedly,  "he 
began  to  tease  me.  'Whatever  you  tell  me  will  harm  no 
one.  On  the  contrary,  if  you  tell,  you  will  set  the  inno 
cent  free.  We  may  be  uselessly  tormenting  the  wrong 
person.'  But  still  I  kept  saying  that  I  would  not  tell. 
Then  he  said,  'All  right,  say  nothing,  only  don't  deny 
what  I  am  going  to  say.'  Then  he  began  to  repeat  the 
names,  and  among  them  the  name  of  Mitin." 

"  Don't  say  any  more." 

"Don't  interfere,  aunty.  .  ."  and  she  still  kept  pull 
ing  at  the  strand  of  hair  and  looking  about.  "So  you 
may  fancy  how  I  felt  when  I  was  informed  the  next  day, 
in  our  secret  'knock  alphabet/  that  Mitin  had  been  ar 
rested.  I  was  sure  then  that  I  had  betrayed  him,  and  this 
tormented  me,  so  that  it  nearly  made  me  crazy." 

"And  you  see  it  turned  out  that  it  was  not  at  all  through 
you  that  he  was  arrested,"  said  the  aunt. 

"  Yes,  but  how  could  I  know  that  ?  I  thought  I  had 
betrayed  him;  that's  what  I  thought.  When  I  used  to 
lie  down  and  cover  my  head  I  seemed  to  hear  some  one 
whispering  in  my  ear :  'You  have  betrayed  Mitin!  You 


RESURRECTION  93 

have  betrayed  Mitin!'  I  knew  it  was  nothing  but  an 
hallucination,  but  I  could  not  help  listening.  I  used  to 
try  to  go  to  sleep  and  stop  thinking,  thinking,  but  I 
couldn't.  It  was  terrible !"  said  Lydia,  growing  more  and 
more  excited  and  still  winding  and  unwinding  the  strand 
over  her  finger  and  looking  about. 

"Calm  yourself,  L^dotchka,"  said  the  mother,  touch 
ing  her  on  the  shoulder.  But  L^dotchka  had  gone  too 
far. 

"  It  is  so  terrible,  because  ..."  she  began  to  say,  but 
she  burst  into  hysterical  weeping,  and  jumping  up  from 
the  sofa  and  tripping  over  a  chair  she  ran  out  of  the  room. 
Her  mother  went  out  after  her. 

"These  scoundrels  ought  to  be  hanged, "  exclaimed  the 
public  school  pupil  who  was  sitting  on  the  window  sill. 

"What  have  you  to  say  on  the  subject?"  asked  his 
aunt. 

"  Oh,  nothing  ...  I  was  simply  .  .  . "  he  replied, 
and  picking  up  a  cigarette  from  the  table  he  lighted  it. 

XXVI. 

"  YES,  solitary  confinement  is  a  terrible  thing  for  these 
young  people, "said  the  aunt,  shaking  her  head  and  also 
lighting  a  cigarette. 

"I  should  think  it  would  be  terrible  for  everybody,"  re 
plied  Nekhliidof. 

"No,  not  for  everybody,"  replied  the  aunt.  "I  have 
been  told  it  is  an  actual  rest  for  the  real  revolutionists, 
and  a  relief.  An  outlaw  lives  in  perpetual  anxiety,  bearing 
many  privations  and  in  a  state  of  constant  apprehension, 
not  only  for  himself  and  others,  but  also  for  the  cause; 
and  when  he  is  finally  arrested  and  all  is  over,  the  whole 
responsibility  ends.  Now  he  can  rest  in  peace.  In  fact, 
I  have  been  told  they  rejoiced  when  they  were  arrested. 
But  for  the  young  and  innocent  —  they  always  get  inno 
cent  creatures  like  Lydia  first  —  the  shock  is  dreadful. 


94  RESURRECTION 

It  isn't  because  you  are  deprived  of  liberty  and  roughly 
treated  or  poorly  fed,  or  feel  stifled  in  the  close  atmosphere, 
or  any  other  privations, — all  that  would  not  matter.  If 
the  hardships  were  three  times  greater,  all  could  easily  be 
endured  if  it  were  not  for  the  nervous  shock  received  when 
one  is  arrested  for  the  first  time." 

"Have  you  been  through  it?" 

"Yes,  I  have  been  imprisoned  twice,"  replied  the  aunt, 
with  a  sad,  pleasant  smile.  "When  I  was  arrested  for 
the  first  time,  I  was  only  twenty-two  years  old.  I  had  one 
child  and  was  expecting  another.  The  loss  of  liberty  and 
the  separation  from  my  child  and  my  husband  were  natur 
ally  hard,  but  it  seemed  to  me  trifling  in  comparison  with 
the  realization  that  I  had  ceased  to  be  a  human  being  and 
become  a  chattel.  I  wanted  to  bid  my  daughter  good- 
by,  but  was  told  to  get  into  the  cab.  I  asked  where  I  was 
going  and  was  told  that  I  would  know  when  I  arrived. 
I  asked  of  what  I  was  accused  and  got  no  reply.  After 
the  examination  I  was  clothed  in  prison  garments  with  a 
number  on  the  suit,  I  was  then  led  to  a  vaulted  room,  the 
door  was  opened,  I  was  pushed  in  and  the  door  locked. 
Only  a  sentinel  with  a  musket  walked  to  and  fro,  passed 
the  cell,  and  now  and  then  peeked  through  a  crack  in  the 
door.  I  felt  crushed.  What  affected  me  most  was  that 
the  gendarme  officer  while  examining  me  offered  me  a 
cigarette.  He  must  have  known,  then,  that  people  are 
fond  of  smoking,  that  they  also  love  light  and  liberty.  He 
must  have  known  that  mothers  love  their  children,  and 
children  love  their  mothers.  Why,  then,  did  they  pitilessly 
tear  me  from  all  that  was  dear  to  me  and  lock  me  up 
like  a  wild  beast  ?  No  one  can  submit  to  this  without  a 
protest.  If  one  has  believed  in  a  God  and  in  humanity, 
or  that  human  beings  love  each  other,  one  loses  all  faith 
after  such  treatment.  Since  then  I  have  ceased  to  be 
lieve  in  men  and  have  become  embittered,"  she  said  with 
a  smile. 

Lydia's  mother  came  into  the  room  and  said  that 


RESURRECTION  95 

Lfdotchka  was  very  nervous  and  would  not  come 
back. 

"They  have  ruined  a  young  life.  I  feel  it  the  more 
keenly,  because  I  was  the  involuntary  cause  of  it,"  said 
the  aunt. 

"  God  willing,  she  will  recover  in  the  country  air.  We 
will  send  her  to  her  father,"  said  the  mother. 

"Yes,  if  it  had  not  been  for  you,"  exclaimed  the  aunt, 
"  the  poor  child  would  have  died.  We  are  indeed  grate 
ful  to  you.  I  also  wanted  to  see  you  because  I  wish  to  ask 
you  to  transmit  a  letter  to  Ve*ra  Efre*movna,"  she  added, 
taking  the  letter  from  her  pocket.  "It  isn't  sealed, 
you  may  read  it,  and  tear  it  up  or  hand  it  to  her;  let  your 
own  conviction  on  the  subject  be  your  guide.  There  is 
nothing  compromising  in  the  letter,"  she  concluded. 

Nekhludof  took  the  letter,  promising  to  transmit  it; 
then  he  rose,  and  bidding  them  good-by  went  out. 


XXVII. 

THE  last  matter  that  kept  Nekhludof  in  Petersburg 
was  the  case  of  the  sectarians  whose  petition  addressed 
to  the  Czar  he  meant  to  hand  to  the  Emperor  through 
his  former  comrade  in  the  regiment,  Bogatyref,  now  aide- 
de-camp  of  the  Czar.  He  called  on  him  in  the  morning 
and  found  that  he  was  still  at  home,  not  having  finished 
his  luncheon,  but  he  was  nearly  ready  to  leave  the  house. 
Bogatyre'f  was  a  short,  thick-set  man,  endowed  with  un 
usual  physical  strength, — he  could  bend  a  horseshoe.  He 
was  an  honest,  kindly,  straightforward,  and  even  a  liberal 
man.  Yet  in  spite  of  these  qualities  he  was  on  intimate 
terms  at  Court,  devoted  to  the  Czar  and  to  his  family,  and 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  though  he  lived  in  the  court  circle, 
he  saw  only  what  was  good,  taking  no  part  whatsoever  in 
the  evil  or  corruption  which  was  evident  to  others.  He 
never  criticised  persons  or  measures,  but  was  either  silent 


96  RESURRECTION 

or  said  what  he  had  to  say  in  a  loud  and  distinct  voice, 
frequently  accompanying  his  words  with  boisterous 
laughter.  But  he  did  this  unconsciously,  because  that 
was  his  way. 

"Ah,  I  am  so  glad  that  you  called.  Won't  you  have 
lunch  ?  Take  a  seat.  This  is  excellent  steak.  I  always 
begin  and  end  with  something  substantial.  Ha! ha!  ha! 
Have  some  wine  at  least!"  he  shouted,  pointing  to  a  de 
canter  with  red  wine.  "  I  was  thinking  about  you.  Yes, 
I  will  hand  in  the  petition.  I  will  give  it  into  his  own 
hands.  Sure !  But  it  occurred  to  me,  hadn't  you  better 
first  call  on  Toporof?" 

Nekhludof  frowned  when  Topor6f  s  name  was  men 
tioned. 

"  Everything  depends  on  him.  He  would  be  consulted 
in  any  event.  He  might  give  you  a  satisfactory  answer 
himself." 

"Yes,  I  will  call  if  you  advise  it." 

"That's  right.  Well,  how  does  Petersburg  strike  you, 
eh?"  shouted  Bogatyref. 

"I  feel  as  if  I  were  already  being  hypnotized,"  said 
Nekhludof. 

"Hypnotized?"  repeated  Bogatyref,  and  laughed 
boisterously.  "You're  sure  you  won't  have  anything? 
Well,  just  as  you  please!"  He  wiped  his  mustache  with 
a  napkin.  "  So  you  will  call  ?  Eh  ?  If  he  refuses,  then 
let  me  have  it  and  I  will  hand  it  in  to-morrow,"  he  shouted, 
and  on  leaving  the  table  he  crossed  himself  energetically, 
evidently  with  no  more  self-consciousness  than  when  he 
had  wiped  his  mouth.  As  he  buckled  on  his  saber,  he 
said: 

"Now  I  must  bid  you  good-by  and  leave  you." 

"We  will  go  out  together,"  said  Nekhludof.  hastily 
shaking  BogatyreTs  strong  hand  and  parting  from  him 
at  the  door  with  the  pleasant  impression  one  always  feels 
on  coming  in  contact  with  anything  so  unconsciously 
fresh  and  wholesome. 


RESURRECTION  97 

Although  he  expected  no  good  results  from  his  visit, 
Nekhliidof  followed  Bogatyref  s  advice  and  went  to  see 
Topor6f,  the  person  on  whom  the  case  of  the  sectarians 
depended. 

The  position  occupied  by  Topordf  was  in  itself  an 
incongruous  one,  which  only  a  dull  person  or  one  devoid 
of  moral  sense  could  have  failed  to  perceive.  Topordf 
possessed  both  these  negative  qualities.  The  incongruity 
inherent  to  the  position  he  occupied  consisted  in  the  fact 
that  his  position  made  it  his  duty  to  support  and  defend 
by  external  measures,  not  excluding  violence,  the  Church, 
which  according  to  its  own  definition  was  established  by 
God  and  could  not  be  shaken  by  the  gates  of  hell  nor  by 
any  efforts  of  man.  This  divine  and  immutable  insti 
tution  was  meant  to  be  supported  and  defended  by  that 
other  institution  of  man,  at  whose  head  stood  Toporof 
and  his  officials.  Topordf  himself  did  not  see  this  con 
tradiction,  or  did  not  wish  to  see  it,  and  was  therefore 
very  seriously  concerned  lest  some  Roman  Catholic  priest, 
Protestant  clergyman,  or  other  sectarian  should  destroy 
this  Church  against  which  the  gates  of  hell  could  not 
prevail.  Like  all  men  who  lack  the  true  religious  feeling 
of  human  equality  and  brotherhood,  he  was  certain  that 
the  nation  is  made  of  men  vastly  different  from  himself 
and  that  the  lower  classes  need  that  which  he  himself 
could  perfectly  well  do  without.  At  the  bottom  of  his 
heart  he  really  believed  nothing  whatever,  and  found  this 
attitude  very  convenient  and  pleasant;  but  fearing  lest  the 
people  themselves  might  some  day  reach  his  own  personal 
state  of  mind,  he  considered  it  his  sacred  duty,  as  he 
called  it,  to  guard  the  people  from  this  pitfall. 

Just  as  the  cookbook  tells  us  that  crawfish  like  to  be 
boiled  alive,  he  was  fully  convinced,  not  in  a  figurative 
sense,  —  as  the  cookbook  used  it,  but  in  its  direct  meaning, 
—  that  the  people  like  to  remain  superstitious.  His  ideas 
concerning  the  religion  he  upheld  were  like  those  of  a 
poultry  keeper  in  regard  to  the  carrion  with  which  he 

VOL.    II. — 7 


98  RESURRECTION 

feeds  his  fowl,  —  carrion  is  very  loathsome,  but  the  fowl 
like  and  eat  it,  therefore  they  must  be  fed  on  carrion. 

Of  course  all  those  ikons  of  Iberia,  Kazan,  and  Smo 
lensk  are  gross  idolatry,  but  the  people  like  and  believe  in 
them,  therefore  these  superstitions  should  be  encouraged. 
Thus  thought  Topordf,  not  realizing  that  if  the  people 
were  superstitious,  it  was  only  because  at  present,  as  in 
old  times,  cruel  men  like  himself  were  always  to  be  found, 
who,  being  enlightened  themselves,  use  their  knowledge, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  freeing  the  people  from  the  dark 
ness  of  superstition,  but  rather  to  enslave  them  still  more. 

As  Nekhliidof  entered  his  reception  room,  Toporof  was 
in  his  study  conversing  with  an  abbess,  a  talkative  aristo 
crat,  who  spread  and  supported  Orthodoxy  in  Western 
Russia  among  Uniats  who  had  been  forcibly  converted  to 
the  Orthodox  Church. 

A  secretary  who  was  in  the  reception  room  asked 
Nekhliidof  about  the  business  that  had  brought  him  there, 
and  on  finding  that  he  had  taken  upon  himself  to  hand 
their  petition  to  the  Emperor  asked  whether  he  was 
willing  to  let  him  see  it.  Nekhliidof  gave  it  to  him,  and 
the  official  took  it  into  the  study.  The  abbess,  with  her 
coif,  flowing  veil,  and  long  black  train,  her  clasped  hands 
with  their  immaculate  nails,  holding  a  topaz  rosary,  left 
the  study  and  passed  out.  And  still  Nekhliidof  was  not 
asked  to  go  in.  Toporof  was  reading  the  petition  and 
shaking  his  head.  He  was  unpleasantly  surprised  as  he 
read  its  clear  and  concise  wording. 

"  If  this  should  come  into  his  Majesty's  hands  it  might 
raise  unpleasant  questions  and  misunderstanding,"  he 
thought  as  he  finished  the  reading.  And  laying  it  on  the 
table  he  rang  and  ordered  that  Nekhliidof  be  ushered  in. 

He  recalled  the  case  of  these  sectarians,  for  he  had 
already  received  their  petition.  The  substance  of  the 
case  was  that  the  Christians  who  had  fallen  away  from 
Orthodoxy  should  be  first  exhorted  and  afterwards  tried, 
but  finally  acquitted.  Then  the  Bishop  and  the  Governor 


RESURRECTION  99 

had  decided,  because  of  the  illegality  of  the  marriages,  to 
separate  husbands,  wives,  and  children  and  send  them 
into  exile.  What  these  husbands  and  wives  asked  was 
that  they  should  not  be  separated  from  their  children. 
Topordf  remembered  the  case  when  it  first  came  into  his 
hands.  Even  then  he  couldn't  decide  and  had  half  a 
mind  to  quash  the  case.  What  harm  would  it  do  to  con 
firm  the  decree  to  separate  and  exile  the  members  of  these 
families  to  different  places?  To  allow  them  to  remain 
might  have  bad  influence  on  the  rest  of  the  population, 
might  lead  them  also  to  fall  away  from  Orthodoxy. 
Moreover,  it  gave  evidence  of  the  Bishop's  zeal,  and 
therefore  he  decided  to  let  the  case  proceed  as  at  first 
intended. 

Now,  with  such  a  defender  as  Nekhliidof,  who  had 
influential  connections  in  Petersburg,  the  case  might  be 
presented  to  the  Emperor  in  a  special  way,  as  something 
cruel,  or  it  might  find  its  way  into  the  foreign  newspapers. 
So  he  at  once  came  to  an  unexpected  decision. 

"  How  do  you  do  ?"  he  said  with  the  air  of  a  very  busy 
man,  continuing  to  stand  after  greeting  Nekhliidof  and 
beginning  at  once  on  the  business  in  hand.  "I  am 
familiar  with  this  case.  As  soon  as  I  saw  the  names  I 
remembered  the  whole  unfortunate  business,"  he  said, 
taking  up  the  petition  and  showing  it  to  Nekhliidof. 
"  And  I  am  very  grateful  that  you  have  reminded  me  of  it. 
The  provincial  authorities  have  been  altogether  too 
zealous." 

Nekhliidof  was  silent,  gazing  sternly  at  the  immovable 
mask  of  the  pale  face. 

"I  will  give  orders  to  have  this  measure  revoked  and 
the  men  returned  to  their  former  homes!" 

"So  that  there  will  be  no  necessity  for  presenting  this 
petition?"  said  Nekhliidof. 

"Most  assuredly.  /  give  you  my  promise,"  he  said 
with  a  special  accent  on  the  word  "I,"  evidently  per 
suaded  that  his  honesty,  his  word,  were  the  best  guaran- 


ioo  RESURRECTION 

tees.     "Still  more,  I  will  write  at  once.     Take  a  seat, 
please." 

He  went  up  to  the  table  and  began  to  write.  But 
Nekhlildof,  without  taking  a  seat,  looked  down  upon  the 
narrow,  bald  skull,  upon  the  thick  hand  with  its  blue 
veins,  that  was  rapidly  moving  the  pen,  and  wondered 
why  he  was  doing  it,  why  a  man  who  seemed  so  indifferent 
to  everything,  was  apparently  so  eager  about  this  matter. 
What  was  the  reason  ? 

"There  you  are,"  said  Topordf,  sealing  the  envelope. 
"You  may  announce  this  to  your  'clients,'"  he  added, 
drawing  in  his  lips  to  imitate  a  smile. 

"Why,  then,  were  these  people  made  to  suffer?"  asked 
Nekhludof,  taking  the  envelope. 

Topor6f  raised  his  head  and  smiled,  as  though  Nekhlii- 
dof  s  question  had  gratified  him. 

"That  I  cannot  tell  you.  I  can  only  say  that  the 
interests  of  the  people  over  which  we  stand  guard  are  of 
so  great  importance,  that  too  much  zeal  in  matters  of 
religion  is  not  so  greatly  to  be  feared  as  the  prevailing 
indifference  in  regard  to  it." 

"  But  why  in  the  name  of  religion  should  the  essential 
demands  of  virtue  be  violated  and  families  be  broken 
up " 

Topordf  still  smiled  condescendingly,  evidently  finding 
Nekhludof 's  words  quite  amusing.  Topor6f  would  have 
been  pleased  with  anything  Nekhludof  might  have  said 
on  his  side,  from  the  heights  of  the  broad  platform  on 
which  he  stood  and  from  which  he  believed  himself  to 
view  the  government  position. 

"This  may  appear  to  be  the  case  from  the  point  of 
view  of  a  private  individual,"  he  said,  "but  from  the  point 
of  view  of  State,  it  is  quite  a  different  matter.  However 
that  may  be,  I  will  now  bid  you  good-by,"  added 
Topordf,  bowing  and  holding  out  his  hand. 

Nekhludof  shook  it  in  silence,  but  repenting  that  he 
had  done  so,  he  quickly  left  the  room. 


RESURRECTION  101 

"The  interests  of  the  people!"  he  repeated  ToporoTs 
words.  "  Your  own  interests,  you  mean,  yours,  yours!" 
he  thought  on  the  way  out. 

He  went  over  in  his  mind  the  list  of  persons  against 
whom  these  institutions  which  re-establish  justice,  support 
religion,  and  educate  the  people  had  exercised  their 
activity,  beginning  with  the  peasant  woman  punished  for 
the  illegal  sale  of  wine,  and  the  young  fellow  for  stealing, 
and  the  tramp  for  vagrancy,  and  the  incendiary  for  arson, 
and  the  banker  for  misappropriation  of  funds,  and  also 
this  poor  little  Lydia  for  withholding  information,  and 
the  sectarians  for  violating  Orthodoxy,  and  GourkeVitch 
for  desiring  a  Constitution.  Nekhludof  became  suddenly 
convinced  and  saw  with  unusual  clearness  that  all  these 
people  had  been  arrested,  locked  up,  and  exiled,  not 
because  they  had  committed  lawless  acts,  but  only  be 
cause  they  hindered  the  official  and  the  rich  from  using  the 
wealth  which  they  took  from  the  people.  And  they  were 
all  hindrances, — the  woman  who  sold  wine  without  a 
license,  the  thief  wandering  about  town,  Lydia  with  the 
proclamations,  the  sectarians  who  assailed  superstition, 
and  Gourkevitch  with  his  Constitution.  He  saw  clearly 
that  all  these  officials,  beginning  with  his  aunt's  husband, 
the  Senators,  and  Toporof,  down  to  all  the  petty,  neat, 
and  correct  gentlemen  who  were  sitting  at  the  desks  in 
various  departments,  were  not  in  the  least  troubled  that 
such  a  state  of  things  should  cause  suffering  to  the  inno 
cent,  but  were  only  concerned  about  the  suppression  of 
all  the  dangerous  elements. 

In  this  way  not  only  was  that  rule  neglected  which 
enjoins  forgiveness  of  ten  guilty  men  sooner  than  one 
innocent  man  should  suffer,  but  quite  the  contrary.  It 
was  like  the  removal  of  diseased  flesh  when  it  is  necessary 
to  cut  out  also  that  which  is  healthy;  they  removed  ten 
innocent  persons  in  order  to  get  rid  of  one  guilty  person. 
This  explanation  of  what  was  going  on  seemed  very  clear 
and  simple  to  Nekhludof,  and  yet  this  very  clearness  and 


102  RESURRECTION 

simplicity  made  him  waver  in  its  recognition.  Could  it 
be  possible  that  such  a  complex  phenomenon  could  be 
capable  of  so  simple  and  terrible  a  solution;  could  it  be 
possible  that  all  this  talk  about  God,  justice,  religion, 
kindness;  and  the  law,  were  only  words  that  concealed 
the  most  brutal  cupidity  and  cruelty  ? 

XXVIII. 

NEKHLtJDOF  would  have  left  the  city  that  evening,  but 
he  had  promised  Mariette  to  call  on  her  at  the  theater; 
and  although  he  was  aware  that  he  ought  not  to  do  this, 
he  went,  justifying  himself  by  considering  it  his  duty  to 
keep  his  word. 

"Am  I  able  to  withstand  temptation?"  he  thought 
somewhat  insincerely.  "I  will  try  it  for  the  last  time." 

Donning  his  evening  dress,  he  was  in  time  for  the 
second  act  of  the  everlasting  "Dame  aux  Came'lias,"  in 
which  a  foreign  actress  represented  in  a  new  way  the 
death  of  a  consumptive. 

The  house  was  crowded,  and  Mariette's  box  on  the  lower 
floor  was  at  once  respectfully  indicated  to  Nekhliidof . 

As  the  liveried  lackey  opened  the  door  of  the  box,  he 
bowed  to  him  as  to  a  friend  of  the  house. 

All  the  people  who  sat  in  the  opposite  boxes  and  those 
who  stood  behind  them,  the  near-by  backs,  and  the  gray, 
semi-gray,  bald,  pomaded,  artificial-looking  heads  of 
those  in  the  orchestra  circle, — all  the  spectators  in  fact 
were  absorbed  in  watching  the  contortions  of  the  thin, 
angular  actress,  who,  dressed  in  silk  and  laces,  was 
reciting  her  monologue  in  an  unnatural  tone  of  voice. 
Some  one  said  "Hush!"  as  the  door  opened,  and  two 
currents  of  warm  and  cold  air  swept  over  Nekhliidof  s 
face.  Mariette  and  a  lady  —  a  stranger  to  Nekhliidof  — 
in  a  red  opera  mantle  and  elaborate  coifure,  and  two 
gentlemen  occupied  the  box.  One  was  Mariette's 
husband,  the  General,  tall  and  handsome,  with  an 


RESURRECTION  103 

aquiline  nose  and  an  inscrutable  expression.  He  wore  a 
uniform  padded  in  the  chest.  The  other  was  a  light- 
haired  and  bald-headed  man,  with  a  dimpled  chin  show 
ing  between  his  pompous  side  whiskers.  Mariette,  slim 
and  graceful,  in  a  decollete  gown  that  exposed  her  strong, 
firm,  sloping  shoulders,  where  a  tiny  mole  was  visible, 
turned  to  look  back  the  moment  he  entered  and  with  her 
fan  motioned  to  a  chair  behind  her,  giving  him  a  grateful, 
but  Nekhludof  thought  somewhat  mechanical,  smile. 
The  husband  in  his  usual  quiet  manner  looked  and  bowed 
to  Nekhludof.  The  glance  he  exchanged  with  his  wife 
showed  that  he  was  the  master,  the  owner,  of  this  hand 
some  wife. 

When  the  monologue  ended,  the  theater  broke  out  with 
applause. 

Mariette  rose  and  holding  up  her  rustling  silk  gown 
stepped  to  the  rear  of  the  box  and  introduced  Nekhludof 
to  her  husband.  Still  smiling  with  his  eyes  alone  and 
saying  that  he  was  "very  glad,"  he  relapsed  into  his 
impenetrable  silence. 

"I  should  have  gone  to-day,  but  I  promised  you  to 
come  here,"  said  Nekhludof,  addressing  Mariette. 

"  If  you  don't  care  to  see  me,  you  will  see  a  wonderful 
actress,"  said  Mariette,  replying  to  the  idea  he  had  meant 
to  convey.  "  Don't  you  think  she  was  wonderful  in  this 
last  scene  ?"  she  said,  addressing  her  husband. 

He  bowed. 

"That  sort  of  thing  leaves  me  indifferent,"  said  Nekhlu 
dof.  "  I  have  seen  so  much  real  misery  to-day,  that " 

"Do  sit  down  and  tell  us  about  it." 

The  husband  listened,  and  the  ironic  smile  of  his  eyes 
seemed  to  grow  still  more  pronounced. 

"I  went  to  see  the  woman  who  was  arrested  and  kept 
so  long  imprisoned.  She  is  a  wreck." 

"She  is  the  one  I  spoke  to  you  about,"  said  Mariette  to 
her  husband. 

"  I  am  very  glad  she  could  be  released,"  he  said,  quietly 


io4  RESURRECTION 

nodding  and,  as  Nekhludof  thought,  smiling  with  uncon 
cealed  irony  behind  his  mustache.  "  I  am  going  out  for 
a  smoke." 

Nekhliidof  remained,  expecting  that  Mariette  would 
tell  him  that  "something"  she  said  she  had  to  tell  him, 
but  she  made  no  allusion  to  it;  she  joked  and  made  some 
remarks  about  the  play,  which  she  thought  ought  to  make 
a  special  appeal  to  Nekhludof. 

Nekhliidof  realized  that  she  had  nothing  to  say,  but 
that  she  had  only  wished  to  show  herself  in  all  the  splendor 
of  her  evening  gown,  and  display  her  shoulders  and  the 
mole;  and  he  felt  pleased  and  disgusted  at  the  same  time. 

The  veil  of  enchantment  which  had  formerly  concealed 
all  this  was  now  partly  withdrawn,  and  he  saw  what  it 
had  concealed.  Looking  at  Mariette,  he  admired  her 
personally,  but  he  knew  that  she  was  untruthful,  living 
with  a  husband  who  was  making  his  way  in  the  world 
through  the  tears  and  weary  lives  of  hundreds  and  hun 
dreds  of  men,  and  she  was  completely  indifferent  to  it; 
that  all  she  had  said  yesterday  had  been  false,  but  that  she 
was  anxious — neither  he  nor  she  knew  why  —  to  have 
him  fall  in  love  with  her.  He  felt  attracted  and  repelled 
at  the  same  time.  Several  times  he  had  started  to  go, 
had  taken  up  his  hat,  but  still  lingered. 

When  the  husband  with  a  strong  odor  of  tobacco  on  his 
mustache  returned  and  glanced  towards  Nekhludof  with 
an  expression  of  unconcealed  contempt  in  his  eyes,  the 
latter  left  before  the  door  was  closed  and  finding  his  over 
coat  walked  out  of  the  theater. 

On  his  way  home,  on  the  Nevsky,  he  noticed  in  front 
of  him  a  well-built,  conspicuously  stylish  woman  who 
was  walking  slowly  on  the  concrete  of  the  broad  sidewalk. 
Her  face  and  figure  expressed  the  consciousness  of  her 
evil  power.  All  those  who  met  or  passed  her  turned 
around.  Nekhliidof  hastened  to  pass  her,  and  he,  too, 
involuntarily  looked  into  her  face.  This  face,  most  likely 
painted,  was  a  comely  one,  and  the  woman  gave  Nekhlii- 


RESURRECTION  105 

dof  a  sparkling  smile.  And  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
Nekhliidof  at  once  thought  of  Mariette  and  experienced 
the  sensation  of  attraction  and  repulsion  that  came  over 
him  in  the  theater.  Quickly  passing  her  by,  he  turned 
into  the  Morskaya  and  thence  to  the  quay,  where  he 
surprised  a  policeman  by  strolling  up  and  down. 

"It  is  the  same  smile  the  other  one  bestowed  on  me 
when  I  entered  the  box,"  he  thought;  "the  same  meaning 
was  in  both.  The  only  difference  is  this:  that  one  of 
them  says  plainly  and  openly,  '  If  I  am  necessary  to  you, 
take  me;  if  not  pursue  your  way,'  while  the  other  pretends 
that  she  has  no  such  thoughts  in  her  mind  but  lives  in  a 
world  of  lofty,  refined  aspirations;  but  the  meaning  is  the 
same.  This  one  at  least  is  truthful,  while  the  other  lies. 
Moreover,  this  woman  has  been  driven  to  this  pass  by 
necessity,  while  the  other  amuses  herself  by  playing  with 
a  revolting  and  terrible  passion.  This  woman  is  like  the 
filthy,  putrid  water  offered  to  those  whose  thirst  over 
comes  their  aversion.  The  other  woman  in  the  theater 
is  a  poison  that  imperceptibly  destroys  all  it  touches." 
Nekhliidof  recalled  his  liaison  with  the  wife  of  the  Mar 
shal  of  Nobility,  and  humiliating  memories  flooded  his 
mind.  "Man  is  good  deal  of  a  brute,"  he  thought,  "but 
if  the  instinct  of  the  brute  has  not  been  corrupted,  then  a 
man  may  look  down  from  the  lofty  heights  of  his  spiritual 
life  and  despise  it,  and  whether  he  falls  or  resists,  he  still 
remains  himself.  But  when  this  brute  instinct  is  con 
cealed  under  a  pseudo-esthetic,  poetic  veil,  and  demands 
adulation,  a  man  loses  all  sense  of  proportion,  and  while 
worshiping  the  brute  instinct  he  can  no  longer  distin 
guish  good  from  evil.  Then  it  becomes  terrible!" 

Nekhliidof  saw  this  now  as  clearly  as  he  saw  the  palaces, 
the  sentries,  the  Fortress,  the  river,  the  boats,  and  the 
Exchange.  And  as  on  that  night  no  soothing,  restful 
darkness  hung  over  the  land,  but  only  a  dismal,  dreary, 
unnatural  light  whose  cause  was  not  apparent,  even  so 
had  the  soothing  darkness  of  ignorance  vanished  from 


io6  RESURRECTION 

Nekhltidof  s  soul.  Now  everything  had  grown  plain. 
It  was  clear  that  all  the  things  which  we  consider  good 
and  important  are  actually  repulsive  and  insignificant, 
and  that  all  this  glitter,  all  this  luxury,  serve  but  to  cover 
the  old  familiar  crimes  which  not  only  go  unpunished, 
but  rise  triumphant,  adorned  with  all  the  charms  which 
the  human  imagination  is  able  to  conceive. 

Nekhliidof  had  endeavored  to  forget,  or  at  least  to  close 
his  eyes  to  this  fact,  but  he  had  lost  the  power  of  doing  so. 
Although  he  could  not  see  the  source  of  the  light  which 
revealed  it  all  to  him,  just  as  he  had  been  unable  to  see  the 
source  of  light  during  that  night  in  Petersburg,  and 
although  the  light  itself  still  seemed  dim,  dull,  and 
unnatural,  he  could  not  now  help  seeing  what  that  light 
revealed  to  him,  and  mingled  emotions  of  joy  and 
anxiety  stirred  his  heart. 


XXIX. 

ON  his  arrival  in  Moscow,  Nekhludof's  first  act  was  to 
drive  to  the  prison  hospital  and  tell  Maslova  the  sad  news 
that  the  judgment  of  the  Court  had  been  confirmed  and 
that  she  must  make  preparations  for  the  Siberian  journey. 
He  had  but  little  hope  that  the  petition  which  the  attorney 
had  prepared  for  him  to  hand  to  his  Majesty  and  which 
he  was  now  bringing  to  be  signed  by  Maslova  would 
amount  to  anything.  And  strange  as  it  may  seem,  he  was 
no  longer  anxious  for  success.  He  had  grown  used  to 
the  thought  of  the  Siberian  journey  and  a  life  among  the 
exiles  and  convicts,  and  it  was  difficult  for  him  to  imagine 
how  he  could  arrange  Maslova 's  life  and  his  own  in  case 
she  was  acquitted.  He  recollected  the  words  of  the 
American  writer  Thoreau,  who  used  to  say  that  the 
prison  was  the  only  suitable  place  for  a  citizen  in  a  State 
where  slavery  was  established  and  protected  by  law. 
This  was  before  the  emancipation.  After  his  visit  to 


RESURRECTION  107 

Petersburg  and  its  accompanying  revelations,  Nekhliidof 
was  inclined  to  agree  with  him. 

"  Yes,  the  only  place  for  an  honest  man  in  Russia  at  the 
present  time  is  the  prison,"  thought  Nekhliidof,  and  as  he 
drove  up  to  the  jail  and  entered  within  its  walls  he  felt 
more  than  ever  convinced  of  that  fact. 

The  door-keeper  at  the  hospital,  recognizing  him,  at 
once  informed  him  that  Mdslova  was  no  longer  there. 

"Where  is  she?" 

"  She  has  gone  back  to  the  prison." 

"Why  was  she  removed?" 

"  Oh,  your  Excellency,  what  can  you  expect  from  such 
people?"  said  the  door-keeper,  with  a  contemptuous 
smile.  "  She  was  fooling  with  the  medical  assistant  and 
the  doctor  in  charge  sent  her  away." 

Nekhliidof  would  never  have  believed  that  M&slova 
and  her  spiritual  life  could  have  been  so  near  to  him. 
The  news  stunned  him.  It  was  as  though  some  unfore 
seen  catastrophe  had  befallen  him.  He  was  unspeakably 
grieved.  His  first  sensation  was  one  of  mortification. 
To  begin  with,  it  made  him  seem  ridiculous  in  his  own 
eyes  to  remember  how  glad  he  had  felt  at  the  supposed 
spiritual  revival  in  Mdslova's  soul.  All  that  talk  about 
her  unwillingness  to  accept  his  sacrifice,  her  reproaches 
and  her  tears,  had  been  merely  the  ruse  of  a  depraved 
woman  who  was  using  him  for  her  own  selfish  advantage. 
It  seemed  to  him  now,  at  the  time  of  his  recent  visit  to  her, 
he  had  noticed  symptoms  of  this  incorrigibility  which 
had  now  come  to  light.  All  this  passed  through  his  mind 
while  he  unconsciously  put  on  his  hat  to  leave  the  hospital. 
"  But  what  am  I  to  do  now  ?"  he  said  to  himself.  "  Am  I 
still  bound  to  her  ?  Does  not  her  present  behavior  set  me 
free?"  But  no  sooner  had  he  asked  this  question|Jthan 
he  understood  at  once  that  if  he  were  to  consider  himself 
free  to  abandon  her  to  her  fate,  it  might  be  a  punishment 
for  himself  but  not  for  her.  He  shuddered  at  the  thought. 
"  No,  what  has  happened  only  confirms  my  determination, 


io8  RESURRECTION 

it  could  never  alter  it.  Let  her  behave  according  to  the 
dictates  of  her  own  conscience;  her  intrigues  with  the 
medical  assistant  are  her  own  affairs  and  are  no  concern 
of  mine.  All  that  concerns  me  is  to  do  what  my  own 
conscience  requires  of  me,  and  my  conscience  bids  me 
sacrifice  my  freedom  to  redeem  my  sin.  My  resolve  to 
marry  her,  even  if  it  be  not  a  real  marriage,  and  to  follow 
her  wherever  she  goes  remains  unchanged,"  he  said  to 
himself  with  an  obstinacy  that  might  almost  be  called 
fanatical.  On  leaving  the  hospital,  he  turned  resolutely 
towards  the  gate  of  the  jail. 

He  asked  the  warden  on  duty  to  inform  the  Inspector 
that  he  wished  to  see  Maslova.  The  warden,  who  knew 
Nekhludof  by  sight,  told  him  informally  an  important 
piece  of  prison  news,  namely,  that  the  captain  who  had 
been  in  charge  was  dismissed,  and  that  a  new  and  a  very 
rigid  Inspector  had  been  appointed  in  his  place. 

"  We  have  strict  regulations  here  now,"  said  the  warden; 
"  the  Inspector  is  here  just  now  and  will  be  informed  at 
once." 

In  fact  the  Inspector,  who  was  in  the  prison  at  that 
moment,  came  almost  at  once  to  Nekhliidof.  He  was  a 
short,  angular  man,  with  projecting  cheekbones,  a  glum 
sort  of  person  and  slow  in  his  movements. 

"  Interviews  are  only  allowed  on  stated  days  in  the  re 
ception  hall,"  he  said  without  looking  at  Nekhludof. 

"  But  I  have  this  petition  to  the  Emperor  for  her  to 
sign." 

"  You  may  leave  it  with  me." 

"I  must  see  the  prisoner  myself.  I  always  have  had 
leave  formerly." 

"Yes,  that  was  hi  old  times,"  said  the  Inspector,  cast 
ing  a  fleeting  glance  at  Nekhliidof. 

"I  have  the  Governor's  permission,"  insisted  Nekhlii- 
dof,  taking  out  his  pocket-book. 

"Allow  me  to  see  it,"  said  the  Inspector,  still  without 
looking  up,  and  with  his  long,  dry,  white  fingers,  with  a 


RESURRECTION  109 

gold  ring  on  the  thumb,  he  took  the  paper  that  NekhliSdof 
gave  him  and  proceeded  slowly  to  read  it. 

"Will  you  come  into  the  office?"  he  said. 

The  office  was  empty.  The  Inspector  took  a  seat  in 
front  of  a  table  and  began  to  turn  over  the  sheets  of  the 
documents  that  were  lying  on  it,  evidently  intending  to  be 
present  at  the  interview. 

When  Nekhludof  asked  him  whether  he  might  also  see 
the  political  prisoner  Bogoduhovsky,  he  replied  curtly 
that  it  would  not  be  allowed.  "  Interviews  with  political 
prisoners  are  not  allowed,"  he  said,  and  became  straight 
way  engrossed  in  the  papers.  With  the  letter  addressed 
to  Bogoduhovsky  in  his  pocket,  Nekhludof  felt  himself  in 
the  position  of  a  man  whose  plot  has  been  discovered  and 
frustrated. 

When  Mdslova  entered  the  office  the  Inspector  raised 
his  head  and  said,  "You  may,"  and  without  looking  at 
Nekhludof  or  at  Maslova  he  continued  busying  himself 
with  his  papers. 

Maslova  wore  the  same  garments — a  white  sack,  a 
skirt,  and  a  kerchief  on  her  head.  When  she  went  up  to 
Nekhludof  and  saw  his  cold,  stern  face,  she  blushed 
scarlet,  and  fingering  the  lower  edge  of  her  sack,  she 
dropped  her  eyes.  Her  confusion  seemed  to  confirm  the 
tale  which  the  door-keeper  at  the  hospital  had  told. 
Nekhludof  would  have  liked  to  treat  her  as  he  had  done 
before,  but  she  had  grown  so  repulsive  to  him,  he  really 
could  not  give  her  his  hand. 

"I  have  brought  you  bad  news,"  he  said  in  a  steady 
voice,  without  looking  at  her  or  extending  his  hand. 
"The  Senate  has  refused." 

"I  knew  it  would,"  she  said  in  a  strange  voice,  almost 
gasping  for  breath. 

Formerly  Nekhludof  would  have  asked  what  reason  she 
had  for  saying  this,  but  now  he  only  looked  at  her.  Her 
eyes  filled  with  tears.  But  instead  of  softening,  the  sight 
of  her  tears  irritated  him  the  more. 


no  RESURRECTION 

The  Inspector  rose  and  began  pacing  up  and 
down. 

In  spite  of  the  aversion  with  which  Nekhltidof  now 
regarded  Maslova,  he  still  felt  that  he  must  express  his 
regret  at  the  refusal  of  the  Senate. 

"Don't  despair;  the  petition  to  the  Emperor  may  yet 
be  granted  and  I  hope  that " 

"I  don't  care  about  that "  she  said,  giving  him 

a  pitiful  glance  from  her  moist  and  squinting  eyes. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  then  ?" 

"You  were  at  the  hospital  and  were  probably  told 
about  me " 

"Well,  that's  your  own  affair,"  said  Nekhliidof  in  a 
frigid  tone  of  voice,  with  a  frown  on  his  brow.  The  stern 
feeling  of  offended  pride  rose  once  more  to  the  surface  with 
renewed  force  when  she  mentioned  the  hospital.  He,  a 
society  man,  whom  any  girl  in  high  life  would  have  been 
happy  to  marry,  had  offered  himself  to  this  woman  as  a 
husband,  and  she  had  not  been  able  to  control  herself 
but  had  begun  to  carry  on  with  a  medical  assistant. 
He  looked  at  her  with  hatred  as  he  thought  of  it. 

"You  will  have  to  sign  this  petition,"  he  said,  as  he 
took  the  large  envelope  from  his  pocket  and  laid  it  on  the 
table.  She  wiped  away  her  tears  with  the  edge  of  her 
kerchief  and  seated  herself  at  the  table,  asking  where  and 
what  she  should  write.  He  told  what  to  write  and  showed 
her  the  place,  and  as  she  sat  arranging  her  left-hand 
sleeve  with  her  right  hand,  he  stood  silently  beside  her 
and  looked  at  her  as  she  bent  over  the  table,  now  and  then 
shaking  with  suppressed  sobs.  Two  conflicting  emotions 
of  good  and  of  evil  were  struggling  in  his  soul,  — his  own 
offended  pride  and  pity  for  the  suffering  girl, — and  the 
latter  feeling  conquered. 

He  never  could  remember  which  came  first,  whether  he 
pitied  her  with  his  whole  heart,  or  thought  only  of  himself, 
of  his  own  contemptible  life  and  sins,  the  cruelty  with 
which  he  had  reproached  her  for  the  same  sin  he  had 


RESURRECTION  in 

himself  committed.     All  he  knew  was,  that  suddenly  he 
felt  the  conviction  of  sin,  and  compassion  for  her. 

After  she  had  signed  the  petition  and  had  wiped  her 
inky  finger  on  her  skirt,  she  rose  and  looked  at  Nekhliidof  „ 

"No  matter  what  happens,  nothing  will  ever  change 
my  decision."  said  Nekhliidof,  and  the  very  thought  that 
he  was  forgiving  her  increased  his  sense  of  pity  and 
tenderness  towards  her  and  he  longed  to  console  her. 
"I  shall  do  what  I  intended  to  do.  Wherever  you  may 
be  sent,  I  shall  go  with  you." 

"What's  the  use?"  she  interrupted  him,  but  her  face 
was  beaming. 

"Think  of  what  you  may  need  for  the  journey." 

"I  thank  you,  I  can't  think  of  anything  in  par 
ticular." 

The  Inspector  walked  up  to  them  and  Nekhliidof ,  antic 
ipating  his  remark,  bade  her  good-by  and  departed,  his 
heart  glowing  with  tranquil  joy,  peace,  and  love  for  all 
mankind.  His  joy  lifted  him  to  a  level  he  had  never 
reached  before,  —  the  certainty  that  no  acts  of  M£slova 
could  ever  change  his  love  for  her.  Let  her  flirt  with  the 
medical  assistant,  that  was  her  affair.  He  no  longer 
loved  her  for  himself  but  for  the  love  of  God  and  for  her 
own  sake. 

Meanwhile  the  flirtation  with  the  medical  assistant 
for  which  Mdslova  was  turned  out  of  the  hospital  and 
which  Nekhliidof  believed  to  be  true,  amounted  to  this: 
Obeying  the  order  of  a  nurse  to  fetch  some  herb  tea  from 
the  dispensary,  which  was  at  the  end  of  the  corridor,  and 
finding  there  the  medical  assistant  Oustinof,  a  tall  man 
with  a  pimpled  face,  who  had  been  annoying  her  for  some 
time,  Maslova,  while  trying  to  get  away  from  him,  gave 
him  such  a  violent  push  that  he  was  thrown  against  a  shelf, 
from  which  two  bottles  fell  and  were  broken.  The  head 
doctor,  who  was  just  then  going  by,  heard  the  crash  of  the 
broken  glass,  and  seeing  Maslova  with  a  flushed  face  run 
ning  out  of  the  room,  angrily  called  out: 


ii2  RESURRECTION 

"Look  here,  my  good  woman,  if  you  are  going  to  carry 
on  here,  I  shall  have  to  send  you  away!" 

"What's  the  trouble  in  there?"  he  addressed  the  medi 
cal  assistant,  looking  at  him  over  his  spectacles. 

The  medical  assistant,  smiling,  began  to  apologize,  but 
without  hearing  him  to  the  end,  the  doctor  raised  his  head 
so  that  he  was  now  looking  through  his  spectacles  and 
went  his  way.  The  same  day  he  told  the  Inspector  to 
send  him  a  more  sedate  person  to  take  Maslova's  place. 

And  this  was  the  sum  and  substance  of  Maslova's  in 
trigue  with  the  medical  assistant.  This  dismissal  from  the 
hospital  because  she  had  been  accused  of  fooling  with  the 
men  was  all  the  more  painful  to  Maslova,  for  after  she 
had  met  Nekhludof  her  relations  with  men,  which  had 
long  been  disgusting  to  her,  became  especially  revolting. 
What  hurt  her  most  deeply  and  made  her  pity  herself  even 
to  weeping  was  that  everybody,  especially  the  pimpled 
assistant,  knowing  what  her  past  life  had  been  felt  that 
they  had  a  right  to  insult  her  and  seemed  surprised  at  her 
resentment.  And  when  she  had  attempted  to  explain  this 
recent  business  to  Nekhliidof — she  knew  that  sooner  or 
later  he  must  hear  of  it  —  she  realized  that  he  didn't 
believe  her,  that  her  excuses  only  served  to  confirm  his 
suspicion.  Tears  choked  her  voice  and  she  stopped 
speaking.  Maslova  had  never  ceased  trying  to  persuade 
herself  that  she  never  had  and  never  would  forgive 
Nekhludof,  that  she  still  hated  him,  as  she  had  told  him 
in  her  second  interview;  but  the  truth  was  that  she  really 
loved  him  and  was  only  too  glad  to  do  anything  she  could 
to  please  him.  She  had  given  up  drinking  and  smoking, 
she  no  longer  flirted,  and  she  had  become  a  servant 
in  the  hospital.  All  this  she  had  done  because  she  knew 
it  would  please  him.  If  she  so  positively  refused  every 
time  he  mentioned  it  to  accept  his  sacrifice  of  himself,  it 
was  partly  because  she  enjoyed  repeating  the  proud  words 
she  had  already  said  to  him,  but  above  all  because  she 
realized  that  such  a  marriage  would  be  a  misfortune  to 


RESURRECTION  113 

him.  She  was  determined  not  to  accept  his  sacrifice,  and 
yet  the  thought  that  he  despised  her  and  still  believed  that 
she  was  as  she  used  to  be  and  did  not  see  the  change  that 
had  taken  place  within  her,  was  very  distressing  to  her. 
She  was  more  pained  to  find  that  he  believed  that  she 
had  done  something  in  the  hospital  than  she  was  to  be 
told  that  she  had  been  finally  sentenced  to  hard  labor. 

XXX. 

MXSLOVA  might  be  sent  off  with  the  first  group  of  con 
victs,  and  therefore  Nekhludof  was  making  preparations 
for  his  own  departure.  But  he  had  so  many  things  to  do, 
he  felt  that  no  amount  of  time  would  suffice  to  accomplish 
them.  It  was  so  different  in  the  old  times,  when  the  only 
center  of  interest  was  Dmitri  Ivanovitch  Nekhludof  and 
everything  bored  him  to  extinction.  Now  all  his  occupa 
tions  were  centered  in  the  affairs  of  other  people  and  not 
his  own,  and  everything  interested  and  charmed  him,  and 
there  was  always  enough  to  do.  In  old  times  he  used  to  be 
very  much  irritated  and  annoyed  over  his  own  business 
affairs,  whereas  now  the  affairs  of  others  never  ceased  to 
entertain  him. 

The  occupations  that  engrossed  Nekhludof  at  the  pres 
ent  time  might  have  been  divided  into  three  classes.  His 
scrupulously  systematic  habits  had  led  him  to  group  them 
in  three  portfolios. 

The  first  was  the  case  of  Maslova  and  the  help  he  could 
give  her.  The  items  of  this  consisted  in  following  up  the 
petition  that  was  addressed  to  the  Emperor  and  in  making 
preparations  for  the  Siberian  journey. 

The  second  was  to  regulate  affairs  on  his  estates.  In 
Pan6vo  the  land  had  been  given  to  the  peasants  on  condi 
tion  that  they  pay  a  rent  therefor,  to  be  used  for  their 
communal  needs.  But  to  make  this  transaction  valid  it 
was  necessary  to  sign  the  agreement  and  his  legacy  to 
them.  In  Kuzminskoe  everything  had  been  settled  as  he 

VOL.    II. — 8 


ii4  RESURRECTION 

had  arranged  it,  that  is,  he  was  to  receive  the  money  for 
the  land,  but  he  had  to  fix  the  dates  of  payment  and  the 
amount  of  money  to  be  reserved  for  himself,  and  the 
amount  to  be  set  aside  for  the  benefit  of  the  peasants.  Not 
knowing  what  his  expenses  would  be  on  the  journey  to 
Siberia  that  he  was  contemplating,  he  refrained  from  de 
priving  himself  of  this  income,  although  he  had  reduced 
it  to  half. 

The  third  of  his  responsibilities  was  to  help  the  convicts, 
who  sought  his  assistance  more  and  more. 

In  the  beginning,  when  he  first  came  in  contact  with 
those  who  asked  his  help,  he  started  to  intercede  for  each 
one  separately,  trying  to  alleviate  his  or  her  fate;  but  in 
time  he  felt  the  impossibility  of  helping  individuals,  and 
therefore  he  was  unconsciously  drawn  into  a  fourth  occu 
pation,  which  at  this  time  interested  him  far  more  than  all 
the  others. 

This  was  the  solution  of  the  following  questions :  What 
was,  why  should  it  exist,  and  whence  came  that  wonderful 
institution  called  the  Criminal  Court,  whose  result  was 
the  jail,  with  the  inmates  of  which  he  had  become  par 
tially  acquainted,  not  to  mention  all  the  other  places  of 
confinement,  from  the  Petropa*  vlovsk  Fortress  to  the  Island 
of  Saghalian,  where  hundreds  of  men  were  pining,  thou 
sands  of  victims  of  this,  to  him,  astonishing  institution 
called  Criminal  Law  ?  From  his  personal  relations  with 
the  convicts,  from  questions  to  the  lawyer,  to  the  prison 
priest,  to  the  Inspector,  and  from  the  lists  of  those  who 
were  confined  there,  NekhMdof  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  criminals  might  be  divided  into  five  classes. 

The  first  class  was  chiefly  composed  of  innocent  men, 
victims  of  judicial  errors,  like  the  incendiary  Mensh6f, 
like  Mdslova  and  others.  This  class  was  not  numerous. 
According  to  the  observations  of  the  prison  priest  it  was 
about  seven  per  cent,  but  the  fate  of  these  people  excited 
a  particular  interest.  The  second  class  was  made  up  of 
men  sentenced  for  crimes  committed  under  peculiar  cir- 


RESURRECTION  115 

cumstances,  such  as  a  fit  of  passion  or  jealousy,  or  under 
the  influence  of  liquor,  etc.,  crimes  that  would  doubtless 
have  been  committed  by  those  who  judged  and  punished 
them,  if  they  had  been  placed  in  the  same  circumstances. 
This  class  according  to  Nekhludof's  observations  com 
prised  more  than  half  of  the  criminals.  The  third  class 
consisted  of  people  punished  not  because,  according  to 
their  understanding,  they  did  what  was  good  and  natural, 
but  that  which  according  to  the  ideas  of  men  who  made 
the  laws  and  who  were  utter  strangers  to  them,  was  con 
sidered  criminal.  To  this  class  belonged  those  who 
secretly  sold  liquor,  the  smugglers,  the  trespassers  on  fields 
and  forests,  imprisoned  for  taking  grass  or  wood  from  vast 
private  estates  or  forests  belonging  to  the  Government. 
To  this  class  might  be  added  the  thieving  mountaineers, 
also  the  unbelievers  who  robbed  churches.  The  fourth 
class  was  made  up  of  men  who  were  looked  upon  as  crim 
inals  only  because  they  stood  above  the  common  social 
level.  Such  were  the  sectarians,  the  Poles,  the  Tcherkess, 
who  revolted  in  order  to  gain  their  independence.  Such 
were  the  political  criminals,  the  Socialists,  the  strikers  con 
demned  for  opposition  to  authorities.  The  percentage 
of  such  people,  who  according  to  the  observations  of 
Nekhliidof  included  the  best  elements  of  society,  was  very 
heavy.  Finally,  the  fifth  category  consisted  of  men  be 
fore  whom  society  was  much  more  guilty  than  they  were 
guilty  before  society.  They  were  the  outcasts,  besotted 
with  unceasing  oppression  and  temptations,  • —  like  the 
boy  who  stole  the  mats,  and  hundreds  whom  Nekhliidof 
had  seen  in  jail  and  elsewhere,  whose  conditions  in  life 
systematically  conduct  them  to  the  necessity  of  commit 
ting  the  act  which  is  called  a  crime.  To  this  class,  ac 
cording  to  Nekhludof's  estimate,  belonged  most  of  the 
thieves  and  murderers  with  whom  he  had  come  in  con 
tact  at  that  time.  Into  this  class  he  put  the  depraved  and 
demoralized  men,  whom  the  new  school  (of  criminology) 
reckons  among  criminals  and  whose  existence  in  society 


n6  RESURRECTION 

is  considered  as  the  chief  reason  for  the  necessity  of 
Criminal  Law  and  punishment.  These  so-called  de 
praved,  criminal,  abnormal  types  were  according  to 
Nekhliidof 's  ideas  just  like  the  other  people  against  whom 
society  was  at  fault  much  more  than  they  were  at  fault 
against  society,  —  but  in  this  instance  and  at  the  present 
time  society  was  not  so  much  at  fault  as  it  had  been  at 
fault  in  the  past  against  their  parents  and  forebears. 

Among  this  class  of  people  Nekhludof  was  especially 
struck  with  Okhdtin,  an  incorrigible  thief,  the  illegitimate 
son  of  a  prostitute,  brought  up  in  a  night  lodging-house, 
who  apparently  up  to  the  age  of  thirty  had  never  met 
men  of  any  higher  moral  status  than  that  of  policemen, 
and  who  when  he  was  a  mere  child  joined  a  band  of 
thieves.  And  yet  withal  he  was  a  very  attractive  man  and 
a  natural  comedian.  He  asked  Nekhludof 's  intercession, 
all  the  while  making  fun  of  himself  and  the  judges,  the 
jail,  and  the  laws,  both  civil  and  divine.  Another  was  a 
handsome  peasant  called  Fedorof,  who  together  with  the 
band  of  which  he  was  the  leader  had  murdered  an  old 
man,  an  official.  Fedorof 's  father  had  had  his  house  un 
lawfully  taken  from  him.  He  had  been  a  soldier  and  had 
been  arrested  and  sentenced  for  falling  in  love  with  an 
officer's  mistress.  He  had  a  lovable,  passionate  nature 
and  longed  at  any  cost  to  enjoy  life.  He  had  never  met 
any  people  who  would  deny  themselves  anything  whatso 
ever  for  their  own  enjoyment,  or  who  ever  dreamed  of  any 
aim  in  life  that  was  higher  than  pleasure.  Nekhludof 
could  easily  see  that  both  these  men  had  been  richly  en 
dowed  by  nature,  but  had  been  neglected  and  mutilated, 
like  uncared-for  plants.  He  also  met  a  vagrant  and  a 
woman  whose  mental  dullness  and  apparent  cruelty  made 
her  repellent,  but  he  failed  to  discover  in  either  that  type 
which  is  discussed  in  the  Italian  school  (of  criminology) ; 
all  he  could  see  were  individuals  who  were  personally  re 
pellent  to  him,  just  like  many  he  had  met  dressed  in 
swallow-tail  coats,  epaulettes,  and  laces. 


RESURRECTION  117 

Thus  in  studying  the  reasons  why  all  these  totally  dif 
ferent  persons  were  imprisoned,  while  others  just  like  them 
were  at  large  and  were  their  judges,  he  came  to  the  con 
clusion  that  this  was  the  fourth  task  which  interested 
him. 

At  first  Nekhliidof  hoped  to  find  the  answer  to  this 
question  in  books  and  purchased  every  one  he  could  find 
on  this  subject.  He  bought  Lombroso  and  Garofalo, 
Ferry  and  List,  Maudsley  and  Tarde,  and  read  them  care 
fully.  But  as  he  went  on  he  became  more  and  more  disap 
pointed.  It  was  with  him  as  with  all  men  who  turn  to 
science,  not  for  the  purpose  of  studying  in  order  to  write, 
discuss,  or  to  teach,  but  who  ask  science  to  solve  the  direct 
and  simple  everyday  problems  of  life.  Science  has  solved 
thousands  of  intricate,  ingenious  questions,  relative  to  the 
criminal  code,  but  not  the  question  for  whose  answer  he 
was  searching. 

He  asked  a  very  simple  thing:  What  right  have  some 
men  to  imprison,  torture,  exile,  flog,  and  kill  other  men, 
when  they  themselves  are  just  like  those  they  torture,  flog, 
and  kill?  And  he  was  answered  by  discussions  as  to 
whether  man  has  a  free  will  or  not  ?  Whether  a  man  can 
be  proved  a  criminal  by  the  measurements  of  his  skull, 
etc.  ?  What  part  does  heredity  play  in  crime  ?  Is  there 
such  a  thing  as  natural  depravity  ?  What  is  morality  ? 
What  is  insanity  ?  What  is  degeneration  ?  What  is  tem 
perament  ?  How  do  climate,  food,  ignorance,  imitative- 
ness,  hypnotism,  and  passions  affect  crime?  What  is 
society  ?  What  are  its  duties,  etc.  ? 

These  arguments  reminded  Nekhliidof  of  a  small  boy 
he  met,  who  was  returning  from  school.  Nekhliidof 
asked  him  if  he  had  learned  how  to  spell.  "  Yes,  I  have," 
said  the  boy.  " Well,  then,  spell ' paw.' "  "  What  sort  of 
a  paw,  a  dog's  paw?"  asked  the  boy,  with  a  roguish  ex 
pression  on  his  face.  Nekhliidof  found  just  such  an 
swers  in  the  form  of  questions  in  the  scientific  books,  — 
answers  to  his  one  fundamental  question.  These  books 


n8  RESURRECTION 

contained  much  that  was  clever,  profound,  and  interest 
ing,  but  they  contained  no  answer  to  his  principal  ques 
tion  :  What  right  have  some  people  to  punish  others  ? 
Not  only  was  there  no  answer,  but  all  the  expositions 
were  intended  for  the  sole  purpose  of  explaining  and 
justifying  punishment,  the  necessity  for  which  was  an 
accepted  axiom.  Nekhludof  read  a  great  deal,  but  never 
systematically;  and  he  ascribed  his  failure  to  find  an 
answer,  to  his  superficial  study  of  the  question;  and 
hoping  he  might  find  it  in  time,  he  refused  to  allow  him 
self  to  believe  in  the  justice  .of  the  answer  which  at 
that  time  rose  more  or  less  frequently  before  him. 

XXXI. 

THE  fifth  of  July  was  the  date  fixed  for  the  start  of  the 
gang  which  Maslova  was  to  join,  and  Nekhliidof  was  to 
follow  her  on  the  same  day.  Nekhliidof 's  sister  and  her 
husband  came  to  town  to  see  him  on  the  eve  of  his  de 
parture. 

Natdlya  Iva"novna  Ragdginsky  was  ten  years  older  than 
her  brother,  who  had  grown  up  partly  under  her  influence. 
She  was  very  fond  of  him  as  a  boy,  and  later  before  her 
marriage  they  became  as  intimate  as  though  they  were  of 
the  same  age  —  she  a  young  woman  of  twenty-five,  he  a 
youth  of  fifteen.  At  that  time  she  was  in  love  with  his 
friend  Nikdlenka  Irtenef,  who  had  since  died.  They 
were  both  fond  of  him,  because  they  loved  that  which 
was  best  in  him  and  in  themselves, — that  unfailing  link 
in  the  chain  of  human  love. 

Since  then  both  had  deteriorated;  he  through  his 
military  service  and  a  dissolute  life,  she  as  a  result  of  her 
marriage  with  a  man  whom  she  loved  through  her  senses, 
who  not  only  cared  very  little  for  what  she  and  Dmftri 
once  upon  a  time  held  as  sacred  and  precious,  but  who 
even  failed  to  understand  it,  and  attributed  all  the  aspira 
tions  for  moral  perfection  and  the  longing  to  serve  man- 


RESURRECTION  119 

kind  —  which  once  had  been  her  ideal — to  the  one  motive 
he  could  understand,  —  to  ambition  and  a  wish  for  display. 

Ragdginsky,  who  was  neither  rich  nor  of  old  family,  was 
a  zealous  executive,  steering  cleverly  between  Liberalism 
and  Conservatism  and  profiting  by  every  chance  which 
would  win  the  best  result  for  himself.  He  possessed 
moreover  a  certain  perculiarity  that  made  him  attractive  to 
women  —  qualities  that  had  enabled  him  to  make  a  bril 
liant  judicial  career.  When  already  a  man  of  mature 
years  he  met  Natasha  abroad,  made  her  fall  in  love  with 
himself,  when  she,  too,  was  no  longer  young,  and  married 
her  in  opposition  to  her  mother's  wishes,  who  considered 
this  marriage  a  mesalliance. 

Although  Nekhludof  tried  to  conceal  it  even  from  him 
self  and  to  suppress  the  feeling  as  far  as  possible,  he  cor 
dially  hated  his  brother-in-law.  He  felt  a  strong  antipathy 
towards  him  because  of  his  vulgar  nature,  his  conceit  and 
mediocrity,  and  above  all  he  disliked  him  because  his 
sister  could  so  passionately,  so  egotistically,  so  sensually 
love  this  limited  nature,  and  for  his  sake  was  capable  of 
crushing  her  own  noble  impulses. 

It  always  pained  him  to  think  that  Natasha  was  the 
wife  of  this  bearded,  bald-headed  man  who  had  such  un 
limited  conceit.  He  was  even  unable  to  conceal  his  aver 
sion  to  his  children,  and  each  time  that  she  was  about  to 
become  a  mother  he  felt  a  sense  of  regret  as  though  she 
had  been  infected  with  something  evil  from  this  man 
whose  nature  was  so  foreign  to  theirs. 

The  Ragoginskys  came  without  the  children — they  had 
two,  a  boy  and  a  girl — and  occupied  the  best  room  in  the 
best  hotel.  Natalya  Ivdnovna  at  once  drove  to  her 
mother's  former  apartment.  She  did  not  find  her  brother, 
but  being  informed  by  Agraphena  Petrdvna  that  he 
had  left  the  apartment  and  was  now  living  in  furnished 
rooms,  she  drove  there.  An  untidy  servant  who  met  her 
in  the  ill-smelling,  dark  corridor,  which  required  artificial 
light  in  the  daytime,  told  her  that  the  Prince  was  out.  As 


RESURRECTION 

Natdlya  Petr6vna  expressed  a  wish  to  go  into  his  rooms  to 
write  him  a  note,  the  man  ushered  her  in. 

When  there,  she  carefully  examined  the  two  small  rooms 
and  saw  everywhere  the  signs  of  neatness  and  order, — 
and  what  impressed  her  particularly  was  the  simplicity  of 
the  furnishings,  quite  unusual  with  him.  She  noticed 
on  the  writing-table  a  familiar  paper-weight  decorated 
with  a  bronze  dog,  also  the  neatly  arranged  portfolios, 
papers  and  writing  materials,  and  some  volumes  on  Crim 
inal  Law;  a  book  in  English  by  Henry  George,  and  a 
French  book  by  Tarde,  with  the  familiar  great,  crooked 
ivory  knife  among  its  leaves. 

Seating  herself  at  the  table  she  wrote  him  a  note  in 
which  she  asked  him  to  be  sure  and  call  on  her  to-day, 
and  shaking  her  head  dubiously  at  what  she  saw,  she 
went  back  to  her  hotel. 

Two  facts  in  regard  to  her  brother  interested  her  just 
now:  his  marriage  with  Katusha,  of  whom  she  had  heard 
in  the  town  where  she  lived,  as  the  story  was  generally  dis 
cussed, — and  his  gift  of  land  to  his  peasants,  a  fact  that 
was  also  known  and  looked  upon  by  many  as  a  deed  of  a 
dangerous  and  political  character.  In  one  way  his  mar 
riage  with  Katusha  pleased  her.  She  admired  his  pluck 
and  recognized  in  it  her  brother  and  herself  as  they  were, 
in  the  good  old  days  before  her  marriage;  but  at  the  same 
time  she  was  appalled  at  the  thought  that  her  brother  was 
going  to  marry  such  a  horrible  woman.  The  latter  feeling 
was  the  stronger  and  she  decided  to  try  to  influence  him 
as  much  as  possible  and  to  dissuade  him  from  taking  this 
step,  although  she  realized  how  difficult  that  would  be. 

The  other  matter,  —  the  gift  of  land  to  the  peasants, 
did  not  interest  her  especially;  but  her  husband  was  very 
much  exercised  about  it  and  insisted  that  she  should  use 
her  influence  with  her  brother.  Igndty  Nikiforovitch  said 
that  an  act  like  that  was  the  height  of  inconsistency, 
thoughtlessness,  and  arrogance;  that  the  only  explanation 
for  it  —  if  any  could  be  found — would  be  the  desire  to 


RESURRECTION  121 

display  eccentricity.  What  sort  of  gift  is  that  when  a 
man  pays  for  his  land  out  of  his  own  pocket  ?  he  asked. 
If  Nekhludof  had  been  determined  to  carry  out  his  scheme, 
he  could  have  made  this  sale  through  the  Peasant  Bank. 
That  would  have  been  sensible.  "As  a  rule  an  act  like 
this  shows  that  a  man  is  on  the  verge  of  insanity,"  said 
Ragdginsky,  already  beginning  to  think  of  a  possible 
guardianship;  and  he  insisted  that  his  wife  should  have  a 
serious  talk  with  her  brother  concerning  his  eccentric 
plans. 

XXXII. 

ON  returning  and  finding  his  sister's  note  on  his  table, 
Nekhludof  at  once  started  out  to  see  her.  Igndty  Niki- 
forovitch  Ragdginsky  was  resting  in  the  next  room,  and 
Natalya  Iv&novna  was  alone.  She  wore  a  tightly  fitting 
black  silk  gown  with  a  red  bow  at  her  waist,  and  her  black 
hair  was  puffed  and  arranged  in  the  latest  fashion.  She 
tried  to  look  as  young  as  her  husband,  who  was  of  her  age. 
When  her  brother  came  in  she  jumped  from  the  sofa  and 
with  a  quick  step  went  forward  to  greet  him,  her  silk 
gown  rustling  with  every  movement  she  made.  They 
kissed  and  gazed  smilingly  into  each  other's  eyes.  Be 
tween  them  passed  that  mysterious,  inexpressible  exchange 
of  looks  charged  with  sincerity  and  significance,  while  they 
began  an  exchange  of  words  which  were  far  from  sincere. 
They  had  not  met  since  their  mother's  death. 

"You  have  grown  stouter  and  you  look  younger,"  he 
said,  and  her  lips  puckered  with  pleasure. 

"And  you  have  grown  thin." 

"Well,  and  how  is  your  husband?"  asked  Nekhlddof. 

"He  is  resting  just  now.     He  had  a  sleepless  night." 

Much  might  have  been  said  here,  but  it  was  not  said. 
Looks  spoke  louder  than  words. 

"I  called  on  you  at  our  old  home." 

"  Yes,  I  know.     It  was  too  big  for  me,  and  too  lonely. 


122  RESURRECTION 

Moreover,  I  have  no  use  for  all  that  stuff;  you  would  better 
take  it  yourself,  —  the  furniture,  I  mean,  and  all  the  other 
things." 

"Yes,  Agraphe*na  Petrovna  told  me  about  it.  I  went 

to  her And  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you, 

but " 

The  hotel  waiter  entered  at  that  moment,  bringing  a 
silver  tea-service,  and  while  he  was  arranging  it  they  did 
not  speak.  Natalya  Ivanovna  seated  herself  at  the  small 
table  and  silently  made  the  tea.  Nekhliidof  also  was 
silent. 

"Dmitri,"  she  said,  "I  know  all  about  it,"  and  she 
gazed  firmly  into  his  eyes. 

"Well,  I  am  glad  you  do." 

"  Can  you  possibly  hope  to  reform  her  after  the  life  she 
has  led  ?"  she  asked. 

He  sat  erect  on  a  small  chair,  listening  closely  and  try 
ing  to  grasp  her  meaning  that  he  might  answer  it  to  the 
purpose.  The  impressions  left  from  his  last  interview 
with  Mdslova  still  filled  his  soul  with  tranquil  joy  and 
good-will  towards  men. 

"She  is  not  the  person  I  wish  to  reform,"  he  replied. 
"It  is  I,  myself." 

Natalya  Ivdnovna  sighed.  "There  are  other  ways  be 
sides  marriage." 

"  I  believe  that  is  the  best  way,  and  moreover  it  will 
introduce  me  into  a  world  where  I  can  be  of  use." 

"I  hardly  think  that  you  will  be  happy,"  said  Natdsha. 

"It  is  not  a  question  of  my  own  happiness." 

"  Of  course  not.  But  if  she  has  a  heart,  she  cannot  be 
happy;  she  cannot  even  wish  it " 

"She  does  not  wish  it." 

"Yes,  I  understand,  but  life " 

"What  about  life?" 

"Life  requires  other  things  from  us." 

"Life  only  requires  us  to  do  what  is  right,"  said 
Nekhludof,  looking  at  her  face,  which  though  still  hand- 


RESURRECTION  123 

some  was  beginning  to  show  the  tiny  wrinkles  around  the 
eyes  and  mouth. 

"I  cannot  understand,"  she  said  with  a  sigh. 

"Poor  darling!  How  could  she  have  changed  like 
this  ?"  thought  Nekhludof,  remembering  her  as  she  had 
been  before  her  marriage  with  the  same  tenderness  he  had 
always  felt  for  her  in  the  countless  memories  of  his  child 
hood.  At  that  moment  Ragoginsky,  holding  his  head 
high  as  usual,  with  his  chest  thrust  forward,  stepping 
lightly  and  softly,  entered  the  room,  his  spectacles,  black 
beard,  and  bald  head  all  shining. 

"How  do  you  do!  How  do  you  do!"  he  exclaimed  in 
his  artificial  and  self-conscious  manner.  Although  after 
his  sister's  marriage  both  men  had  tried  to  say  "thou" 
to  each  other,  they  still  used  the  more  formal  "you." 

They  shook  hands,  and  Ragdginsky  softly  sank  into  an 
armchair. 

"I  hope  I  shall  not  interrupt  your  conversation  ?" 

"Not  at  all.     I  have  nothing  to  conceal  from  any  one." 

As  soon  as  Nekhludof  beheld  that  face,  those  hairy 
hands,  and  heard  that  patronizing,  self-assertive  tone,  his 
meek  spirit  left  him  in  a  moment. 

"We  were  talking  about  his  plans,"  said  Natdsha. 
"  Shall  I  give  you  a  cup  ?" 

"  Yes,  please.     What  plans  do  you  mean  ?" 

"Going  to  Siberia  with  the  gang  of  convicts  among 
whom  is  the  woman  against  whom  I  have  sinned,"  said 
Nekhludof. 

"I  have  been  told  that  you  meant  to  do  more  than 
escort  her  to  Siberia." 

"Yes,  I  shall  marry  her  if  she  consents  to  it." 

"  Indeed  ?  But  if  you  have  no  objections,  would  you 
mind  explaining  to  me  your  reasons?  I  fail  to  under 
stand  them." 

"My  reasons  are,  that  this  woman — that  the  first 

downward  step  on  the  road  to  a  dissolute  life " 

Nekhludof  was  angry  with  himself  that  he  could  not 


i24  RESURRECTION 

find  the  right  words.     "What  I  mean  is  that  I  am  the 
criminal  and  she  has  been  punished  for  my  sin." 

"If  she  has  been  punished,  then  she  must  have  been 
guilty,  too." 

"She  is  absolutely  innocent."  And  with  unnecessary 
agitation  he  related  the  story. 

"Yes,  it  was  an  error  on  the  part  of  the  Presiding 
Justice  which  caused  the  thoughtless  answer  of  the  jury. 
It's  a  case  for  the  Senate." 

"The  Senate  has  disallowed  the  petition." 

"If  it  disallowed  it,  the  appeal  lacked  adequate  founda 
tion,"  said  Ragdginsky,  evidently  sharing  the  opinion 
that  the  truth  is  the  product  of  judicial  argument.  "The 
Senate  cannot  review  the  case  on  its  merits.  If  an  error 
of  the  Court  really  exists  you  should  address  a  petition  to 
his  Majesty." 

"  That  has  been  done,  but  there  is  no  chance  whatever 
of  success.  An  inquiry  will  be  made  in  the  Ministry  (of 
Justice),  and  the  Ministry  will  make  an  inquiry  in  the 
Senate;  the  Senate  will  repeat  its  decision,  and  as  usual 
the  innocent  will  be  punished." 

"  In  the  first  place  the  Ministry  will  make  no  inquiries 
of  the  Senate,"  said  Ragdginsky,  with  a  condescending 
smile;  "it  will  order  the  original  papers  sent  up  from  the 
Court,  and  if  it  finds  an  error  it  will  give  its  opinion  on 
those  grounds.  In  the  second  place,  the  innocent — with 
rare  exceptions — are  never  punished.  The  guilty  alone 
are  punished,"  said  Ragoginsky  deliberately,  with  a  self- 
satisfied  smile. 

"And  I  have  become  fully  convinced  of  the  contrary," 
retorted  Nekhludof,  with  a  feeling  of  irritation  against  his 
brother-in-law.  "  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  more 
than  half  of  the  people  sentenced  by  the  Courts  are  in 
nocent." 

"How  so?" 

"I  mean  they  are  innocent  in  the  literal  sense, — just 
as  the  woman  is  innocent  of  poisoning,  as  the  peasant 


RESURRECTION  125 

whom  I  have  just  come  to  know  who  was  accused  of  a 
murder  he  had  never  committed,  as  the  mother  and  son 
are  innocent  of  the  crime  of  arson  which  was  committed 
by  the  owner  himself,  but  who  came  very  near  being 
sentenced." 

"  Certainly;  judicial  errors  always  have  occurred  and 
will  continue  to  occur.  Human  institutions  never  can  be 
perfect. " 

"And  then  great  numbers  are  actually  innocent  be 
cause,  having  been  brought  up  amid  certain  surroundings, 
they  do  not  consider  their  acts  as  crimes." 

"Excuse  me,  but  that  is  not  a  correct  statement. 
Every  thief  knows  that  stealing  is  wrong  and  that  he 
ought  not  to  steal;  that  theft  is  immoral,"  said  Ragdgin- 
sky,  with  a  calm,  self-restrained,  and  somewhat  supercili 
ous  smile  which  was  specially  irritating  to  Nekhlddof. 

"  No,  he  does  not.  He  has  been  told  not  to  steal,  but 
he  knows  that  owners  of  factories  steal  his  labor  and  keep 
back  his  pay,  that  the  Government  and  all  its  officials  rob 
continually  by  taxation." 

"That  sounds  like  anarchism,"  said  Ragdginsky, 
quietly  interpreting  his  brother-in-law's  words. 

"I  do  not  know  what  it  sounds  like.  I  only  know  it  is 
true,"  continued  Nekhliidof.  "He  knows  that  the  Gov 
ernment  robs  him.  He  knows  that  we,  the  landowners, 
have  robbed  him  long  ago  by  taking  away  his  land, 
which  should  be  common  property,  and  then  when  he 
gathers  a  few  dry  twigs  to  light  his  fire  we  imprison  him 
and  tell  him  that  he  is  a  thief.  He  is  fully  aware  that  it 
is  not  he  who  is  the  thief,  but  the  man  who  has  robbed  him 
of  his  land,  and  that  entire  restitution  of  what  has  been 
stolen  from  him  is  a  duty  he  owes  to  his  family." 

"I  do  not  understand,  and  even  if  I  did,  I  could  hardly 
agree.  The  land  must  have  an  owner.  If  you  were  to 
divide  it  to-day,"  began  Ragdginsky,  with  the  calm  and 
full  assurance  that  Nekhludof  was  a  socialist  and  that  the 
theory  of  socialism  demands  that  land  should  be  divided 


126  RESURRECTION 

equally,  —  foolish  as  such  a  division  would  be,  as  he  could 
easily  prove,  —  "if  it  were  to  be  equally  divided  to-day, 
to-morrow  it  would  again  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  most 
industrious  and  the  capable." 

"  No  one  thinks  of  dividing  land  equally.  Land  should 
be  no  man's  property.  It  should  be  neither  bought,  nor 
sold,  nor  rented." 

"The  right  of  property  is  natural  to  man.  Without 
ownership  there  would  be  no  interest  in  cultivating  land. 
Destroy  the  right  of  property  and  we  shall  return  to  the 
primitive  state,"  said  Rag6ginsky  with  authority,  repeat 
ing  the  usual  argument  in  defense  of  the  landed  owner 
ship  which  is  considered  irrefutable  and  is  founded  on  the 
argument  that  the  greed  for  owning  land  is  a  proof  of  its 
necessity. 

"  On  the  contrary  it  is  only  when  the  landowners  cease 
to  behave  like  dogs  in  the  manger,  who  cannot  use  the  land 
themselves,  and  refuse  to  let  other  men  cultivate  it,  that 
the  land  will  cease  to  lie  idle  and  become  of  some  use." 

"Just  one  moment,  Dmitri  Ivdnovitch!  Why,  this  is 
absolute  folly !  Is  it  possible  to  abolish  the  ownership  of 
land  in  these  days  ?  I  know  that's  your  pet  hobby.  But 
let  me  tell  you  frankly " 

And  Ragdginsky's  voice  shook,  and  he  actually  turned 
pale.  Evidently  this  was  a  vital  question  for  him.  "  I 
should  advise  you  to  think  this  matter  over  thoroughly 
before  you  make  a  practical  decision." 

"Are  you  speaking  of  my  own  personal  affairs?" 

"I  take  it  that  we  are  all  placed  in  a  certain  position; 
that  we  are  expected  to  bear  the  burden  of  its  duties,  to 
maintain  its  traditions  and  to  transmit  to  our  heirs  what 
we  have  ourselves  inherited  from  our  ancestors." 

"I  consider  it  my  duty  to " 

"Wait  one  moment,"  continued  Ragoginsky,  refusing 
to  be  interrupted.  "  I  am  not  thinking  of  myself  or  of  my 
children.  My  children's  future  is  safe,  and  I  earn 
enough  to  live  in  comfort,  and  I  hope  that  my  children  will 


RESURRECTION  127 

also  have  enough  to  live  in  comfort;  therefore  if  you  will 
allow  me  to  say  so,  my  protest  against  your  intentions — 
which  are  somewhat  ill-advised — does  not  come  from  any 
selfish  motive  on  my  part,  but  I  could  never  agree  with  you 
on  principle.  I  should  advise  you  to  think  it  over  and  to 

read " 

"Perhaps  you  will  allow  me  to  arrange  my  own  affairs 
and  to  use  my  own  judgment  in  the  selection  of  the  books 
I  shall  read,"  said  Nekhliidof,  turning  pale;  and  feeling 
that  his  hands  were  growing  cold,  and  that  he  was  losing 
his  self-control,  he  became  silent  and  began  to  drink  his 
tea. 

XXXIII. 

"WELL,  how  are  the  children?"  Nekhludof  asked  his 
sister,  when  he  had  become  a  little  more  composed. 

His  sister  told  him  about  the  children  that  they  were 
with  their  grandmother,  her  husband's  mother;  and,  re 
lieved  that  the  dispute  with  her  husband  had  come  to  an 
end,  she  described  how  they  made  believe  that  they  were 
traveling,  just  as  once  upon  a  time  he  had  played  with  his 
dolls — one  a  black  Arab  and  another  whom  they  called 
the  Frenchwoman. 

"  Is  it  possible  that  you  remember  that  ?"  asked  Nekhlu 
dof,  smiling. 

"  Yes,  isn't  it  odd  that  they  should  play  the  very  same 
game?" 

The  unpleasant  conversation  was  practically  ended. 
Natdsha  became  calm,  but  did  not  like  to  talk  before  her 
husband  on  subjects  which  her  brother  alone  could  under 
stand;  so  in  order  to  make  the  conversation  general,  she 
started  the  subject  of  Kamensky's  mother,  who  had  lost 
her  only  son,  killed  in  a  duel,  for  the  news  had  lately 
reached  here  from  Petersburg.  Ragdginsky  expressed 
his  disapproval  of  an  order  of  things  which  excluded 
murder  in  a  duel  from  the  list  of  capital  crimes. 


128  RESURRECTION 

This  remark  called  forth  a  retort  from  Nekhliidof  and 
again  the  same  old  dispute  was  renewed,  wherein  not  all 
was  expressed  and  where  neither  interlocutor  said  the  final 
word,  but  each  preserved  his  own  antagonistic  opinion. 
Ragdginsky  felt  that  Nekhludof  condemned  him  and  that 
he  scorned  his  activity,  and  he  was  anxious  to  prove  to 
him  the  injustice  of  his  opinions.  While  Nekhludof,  not 
to  mention  his  displeasure  at  his  brother-in-law's  inter 
ference  with  his  plans  about  his  land,  —  at  the  bottom  of 
his  heart  he  felt  that  his  sister,  his  brother-in-law,  and 
their  children  had,  as  his  heirs,  a  certain  right  of  protest 
—  was  indignant  because  this  narrow-minded  man  so 
calmly  and  dogmatically  went  on  asserting  that  what 
Nekhliidof  now  considered  to  be  mad  and  criminal,  was 
right  and  legal.  This  self-assurance  irritated  Nekhludof. 

"What  should  the  Court  have  done?"  he  asked. 

"It  should  have  sentenced  one  or  the  other  of  the  duel 
ists  like  ordinary  murderers  to  hard  labor." 

Again  Nekhludof  felt  his  hands  growing  cold  and  he 
said  excitedly: 

"And  what  would  have  been  the  result?" 

"  Justice  would  have  been  done." 

"As  if  Justice  were  the  aim  of  the  Courts  of  Justice," 
said  Nekhludof. 

"What  else,  then?" 

"Their  aim  is  to  uphold  class  interests.  Courts  are 
only  administrative  institutions  for  maintaining  any 
existing  affairs  that  may  be  to  the  advantage  of  our 
class." 

"Well,  this  really  is  a  novel  point  of  view,"  replied 
Rag6ginsky,  with  a  quiet  smile.  "  Courts  are  commonly 
supposed  to  have  a  different  aim." 

"  Theoretically,  but  not  practically,  as  I  have  had  occa 
sion  to  discover.  Courts  aim  only  at  preserving  the  exist 
ing  order  of  things,  and  for  that  purpose  they  persecute 
and  sentence  those  who  are  above  the  general  level  and 
who  wish  to  raise  it,  —  the  so-called  political  criminals,  as 


RESURRECTION  129 

well  as  those  who  are  below  it,  the  so-called  criminal 
types." 

"I  cannot  agree  with  you.  In  the  first  place  because 
I  do  not  believe  that  the  so-called  political  criminals  are 
sentenced  because  they  are  above  the  average.  They  are 
generally  speaking  the  refuse  of  society,  —  depraved  it 
may  be  in  a  different  way  from  the  criminal  types  whom 
you  consider  below  the  average." 

"But  I  know  people  who  are  immensely  superior  to 
their  judges.  All  the  sectarians  are  men  of  lofty  moral 
character,  determined " 

But  Rag6ginsky,  being  a  man  unaccustomed  to  in 
terruptions,  paid  no  heed  to  Nekhliidof's  words,  thereby 
irritating  him  more  and  more  as  he  went  on  talking  at 
the  same  time. 

"I  cannot  agree  that  Courts  aim  to  uphold  the  existing 
order.  The  Court  has  its  own  aim ;  either  to  reform " 

"Nice  way  to  reform  a  man,  to  put  him  in  jail!" 
interrupted  Nekhliidof. 

"  Or  to  remove  the  depraved  and  the  brutal,  who  under 
mine  the  existence  of  society,"  continued  Ragdginsky, 
persistently. 

"That's  just  what  it  doesn't  do;  neither  this  nor  that. 
Society  has  no  means  for  doing  it." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  I  do  not  understand  you,"  said 
Rag6ginsky,  with  a  forced  smile. 

"I  mean  that  only  two  varieties  of  punishment  which 
were  used  in  olden  times  are  still  in  existence:  corporal 
punishment  and  capital  punishment,  —  and  these,  owing 
to  the  change  of  customs  and  times,  have  been  nearly  dis 
carded,"  said  Nekhliidof. 

"This  is  news,  rather,  as  coming  from  you." 

"Yes,  I  think  it  is  a  good  thing  to  give  a  man  bodily 
pain,  to  make  him  refrain  from  again  committing  the 
crime  for  which  he  has  been  punished,  and  it  shows  sense 
to  behead  any  member  of  society  who  is  injurious  or  dan 
gerous  to  it.  Both  punishments  are  sensible.  But  what 

VOL.   II. — 9 


i3o  RESURRECTION 

sense  is  there  in  locking  up  a  man  already  depraved  by 
idleness  or  evil  influence  and  continuing  to  support  him  in 
idleness  among  the  most  depraved  men  ?  Or  for  some  in 
scrutable  reason  to  transport  him  at  the  public  expense  — 
and  the  cost  is  five  hundred  roubles  —  from  the  Gov 
ernment  of  Tula  to  that  of  Irkutsk,  or  from  Kursk " 

"  But  people  dread  those  journeys  at  the  expense  of  the 
Government  and  if  these  journeys  and  jails  did  not  exist, 
you  and  I  would  not  be  sitting  here  as  peacefully  as  we 
are  now  doing." 

"  But  these  jails  are  powerless  to  insure  our  safety,  be 
cause  men  are  not  kept  in  them  forever,  but  are  set  free. 
It  is  indeed  just  the  reverse,  for  in  these  establishments 
men  lead  the  most  vicious  lives  it  is  possible  to  conceive 
and  grow  more  and  more  dangerous  to  the  world  when 
they  are  set  at  large." 

"You  mean  that  the  penitentiary  system  ought  to  be 
improved  ?" 

"  It  cannot  be  improved.  An  improved  prison  system 
would  cost  far  larger  sums  than  those  spent  on  national 
education  and  would  be  only  an  additional  burden  on  the 
people." 

"But  the  defects  of  the  penitentiary  system  do  not  in 
the  least  invalidate  the  Courts,"  Ragdginsky  once  more 
continued,  not  listening  to  his  brother-in-law. 

"Those  defects  cannot  be  improved,"  said  NekhlUdof, 
raising  his  voice. 

"  Well,  what  of  that  ?  Then  according  to  you  we  must 
go  on  killing,  or  as  a  certain  statesman  has  suggested,  we 
shall  have  to  put  their  eyes  out,"  said  Rag6ginsky,  smiling 
triumphantly. 

"  Yes,  that  might  be  cruel,  but  it  would  be  consistent. 
What  is  going  on  at  present  is  not  only  cruel  and  incon 
sistent,  but  so  stupid  that  it  is  impossible  to  understand 
how  normal  people  can  take  part  in  such  a  cruel  institution 
as  the  Criminal  Court." 

"I  take  part  in  it,"  said  Rag6ginsky,  turning  pale. 


RESURRECTION  131 

"That  is  your  affair.     I  fail  to  understand  it." 

"In  my  opinion  you  fail  to  understand  most  things," 
said  Rag6ginsky,  with  a  shaking  voice. 

"  I  have  seen  the  Assistant  Prosecutor,  in  Court,  try  his 
best  to  convict  a  poor  lad  whose  condition  could  have 
evoked  no  feeling  but  compassion  from  any  normal  man. 
I  heard  another  Prosecutor  question  a  sectarian  and  make 
the  reading  of  the  Gospel  a  criminal  offense,  and  the 
whole  business  of  Courts  is  made  up  of  such  stupid  and 
cruel  actions  as  these." 

"I  would  not  serve  if  I  thought  so,"  said  Ragdginsky, 
and  rose. 

Nekhliidof  saw  a  queer  glitter  under  his  brother-in-law's 
spectacles.  "  Can  it  be  tears  ?"  thought  Nekhliidof. 
They  were  indeed  tears.  Ignaty  Nikiforovitch  went  up 
to  the  window,  took  out  his  handkerchief,  coughed,  and 
rubbed  his  spectacles.  Then  he  removed  them  and  wiped 
his  eyes.  When  he  returned  to  the  sofa,  he  lighted  a  cigar 
and  did  not  say  another  word.  Nekhludof  felt  pained 
and  mortified  to  have  offended  his  brother-in-law  and  his 
sister,  the  more  as  he  was  to  leave  to-morrow  and  would 
probably  never  see  them  again.  He  took  his  leave  in  con 
fusion  and  drove  home. 

"  It  is  very  likely  that  I  spoke  the  truth,  at  least  he  made 
me  no  reply.  But  that  was  not  the  way  I  should  have 
spoken.  How  little  I  have  changed  if  I  could  have  been 
so  carried  away  by  hard  feelings  as  to  have  offended  him 
and  grieved  poor  Natasha,"  he  thought. 

XXXIV. 

THE  party  of  convicts  to  which  Ma"slova  belonged  was 
to  set  out  from  the  Railway  Station  at  3  P.M.,  so  that 
in  order  to  see  it  start  from  the  jail  and  to  accompany  it 
to  the  station,  Nekhliidof  had  to  be  at  the  prison  before 
12  o'clock. 

As  he  packed  his  things  and  his  papers  he  stopped  to 


i32  RESURRECTION 

read  some  passages  in  his  diary,  and  the  last  thing  he  had 
written  in  it  before  leaving  Petersburg  was  as  follows: 
"  Kattisha  will  not  accept  my  sacrifice,  but  will  sacrifice 
herself.  She  has  conquered,  and  so  have  I.  I  rejoice  in 
the  change  of  heart  that  is  going  on  within  her.  I  dare 
hardly  believe  it  to  be  true."  Then  further  on  he  had 
written:  "I  have  experienced  painful  and  joyful  feelings. 
I  was  told  that  she  misbehaved  in  prison  and  felt  greatly 
grieved.  The  pain  was  more  than  I  could  have  expected 
it  to  be.  I  spoke  to  her  in  tones  of  disgust  and  hatred, 
and  then  I  thought  of  myself,  how  many  times  just  as  at 
present,  I  had  committed,  though  only  in  thought,  the 
very  sin  I  condemned  and  despised  in  her,  and  at  once  I  be 
came  disgusting  to  myself  while  I  pitied  her;  then  I  felt 
happy  again.  If  we  only  could  see  the  beam  in  our  own 
eye  in  time,  how  much  more  charitable  we  should  be." 
On  the  last  day  he  had  written:  " I  called  on  Natasha,  and 
just  because  I  was  satisfied  with  myself  I  was  unkind  and 
cross  and  now  my  heart  is  heavy.  What  is  to  be  done  ? 
To-morrow  I  begin  a  new  life.  Good-by  forever,  my 
old  life.  I  have  many  impressions  which  I  cannot  yet 
assimilate." 

On  waking  the  next  morning  Nekhludof's  first  feeling 
was  that  of  repentance  for  what  had  passed  between  him 
and  his  brother-in-law.  ...  "I  can't  leave  in  this  way, 
I  must  go  there  again  and  make  amends,"  he  thought,  but 
glancing  at  his  watch  he  saw  that  he  had  no  time  and  that 
he  must  make  haste  in  order  not  to  miss  the  departure  of 
the  gang.  Getting  ready  in  haste  and  dispatching  the 
door-keeper  and  Tarass,  Fed6sya's  husband,  who  was  to 
accompany  him,  directly  to  the  station,  Nekhludof  took 
the  first  izvdstchik  he  met  and  drove  to  the  prison. 

The  prisoners'  train  started  two  hours  before  the  mail 
train  on  which  Nekhliidof  was  to  follow,  so  that  he  had 
paid  for  his  rooms,  not  intending  to  return. 

It  was  hot  July  weather.  The  street  pavements,  the 
houses,  and  the  iron  roofs  were  throwing  their  heat  into 


RESURRECTION  133 

the  breathless  atmosphere.  There  was  no  breeze,  and  if 
one  did  come,  it  brought  with  it  a  hot  wave  saturated  with 
dust  and  the  smell  of  paint.  The  streets  were  almost 
empty  and  the  few  people  who  were  out  tried  to  keep  in 
the  shade  of  the  houses.  Only  the  sunburnt  peasants  who 
were  working  on  the  pavements,  in  their  bast  shoes,  sat  in 
the  middle  of  the  street  and  hammered  at  the  stones  they 
were  setting  in  the  heated  sand;  or  the  gloomy  policemen 
in  their  unbleached  uniforms,  their  revolvers  tied  with 
orange  strings,  dolefully  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  street, 
shifting  from  one  foot  to  another;  or  the  street-cars,  with 
their  shades  pulled  down  on  the  sunny  side,  the  heads  of 
the  horses  covered  with  wire  hoods,  with  slits  for  their 
ears,  rolled  tinkling  up  and  down  the  street. 

When  Nekhludof  drove  up  to  the  prison  the  gang  had 
not  yet  left  and  the  hurried  business  of  delivering  and  re 
ceiving  the  prisoners  that  had  begun  at  4  A.M.  was  still 
going  on.  There  were  623  men  and  64  women  in  the  de 
parting  gang.  Each  one  must  be  verified  by  the  roll-call, 
the  sick  and  the  feeble  segregated,  and  the  party  put  in 
charge  of  the  guard.  The  new  Inspector,  his  two  assist 
ants,  the  doctor  and  medical  assistant,  the  officer  of  the 
convoy,  and  the  clerk  sat  at  a  table  in  the  shadow  of  the 
wall,  with  papers  and  writing  materials  before  them,  and 
called  the  names  one  by  one,  inspected,  questioned,  and 
noted  down  the  prisoners  as  they  went  up  to  them  in  turn. 

The  sun  was  already  shining  half  across  the  table.  It 
was  hot  and  close,  partly  from  the  exhalations  of  the 
throng  of  prisoners  crowded  around  it  and  partly  because 
not  a  breath  of  air  was  stirring. 

"There  seems  to  be  no  end  to  this  business,"  said  the 
tall,  stout,  and  florid  officer  of  the  convoy,  with  high 
shoulders  and  short  arms,  incessantly  drawing  in  and  puff 
ing  out  the  smoke  of  a  cigarette  from  behind  the  mustache 
which  drooped  over  his  mouth.  "I  am  tired  out!  Where 
did  you  get  so  many?  How  many  more  are  there?" 

The  clerk  consulted  the  roll. 


i34  RESURRECTION 

"Twenty-four  more  of  the  men,  and  the  rest  are 
women." 

"Well,  why  do  you  halt?  Come  on!"  shouted  the  offi 
cer  to  the  crowd  of  prisoners  who  had  not  yet  been  veri 
fied.  For  more  than  three  hours  they  had  been  standing 
in  the  sun  waiting  for  their  turn. 

This  was  going  on  inside  the  yard,  while  outside,  by  the 
gate,  stood  as  usual  an  armed  sentry,  about  twenty  carts 
laden  with  the  belongings  of  the  prisoners  and  things  for 
the  use  of  the  invalids,  and  in  a  corner  a  group  of  relatives 
and  friends  waiting  to  see  them  as  they  came  out,  and  if 
possible,  to  say  a  few  words,  or  to  give  them  something. 
NekhMdof  joined  this  group. 

He  had  been  standing  there  about  an  hour,  when  the 
clanking  of  chains,  the  sound  of  steps,  the  orders  of  the 
authorities,  much  coughing,  and  the  murmur  of  a  large 
crowd  became  audible  behind  the  gates.  This  lasted 
about  five  minutes,  during  which  time  the  wardens  went  to 
and  fro  through  the  gate.  At  last  the  order  was  given. 
The  gates  were  noisily  flung  open,  the  clanking  of  chains 
became  more  distinct,  and  the  convoy  soldiers  in  white 
uniforms,  armed  with  muskets,  came  out  into  the  street, 
and  performed  the  usual  evolution,  posting  themselves 
in  a  wide  half-circle  around  the  gate.  When  they  were 
in  order,  another  command  was  given  and  the  prisoners 
came  out  in  pairs,  wearing  flat  hats  on  their  shaven  heads 
and  carrying  bags  slung  over  their  shoulders,  dragging 
their  chained  legs,  swinging  one  hand  free,  while  the  other 
was  used  to  support  the  bags  on  the  backs.  First  came 
the  men  convicts,  in  gray  trousers  and  loose  coats  with 
black  marks  like  aces  on  the  back.  All,  young  or  old, 
thin  or  stout,  pale  or  florid  or  dark,  with  beards  or  mus 
taches  or  smooth-faced,  Russians,  Tartars,  and  Jews, 
came  clanking  their  chains  and  briskly  swinging  their 
arms,  as  though  ready  for  a  long  journey.  But  after 
taking  a  few  steps  they  halted  and  meekly  arranged 
themselves  four  abreast  in  rows,  one  behind  the  other. 


RESURRECTION  135 

These  were  followed  by  men,  also  with  shaven  heads  and 
dressed  like  the  others,  but  with  no  chains  on  their  legs, 
only  chained  to  each  other  by  manacles.  These  were  the 
exiles.  They  came  out  just  as  briskly,  halted,  and  also 
placed  themselves  four  abreast.  Then  came  the  men 
exiled  by  the  village  communes.  Then  the  women,  also 
in  order;  those  condemned  to  hard  labor  in  gray  coats 
and  kerchiefs  -on  their  heads,  followed  by  the  exiles  and 
those  who  went  of  their  own  free  will,  dressed  in  city  or 
in  peasant  clothes.  Some  of  them  carried  babes  wrapped 
in  the  fronts  of  their  gray  coats. 

The  children  came  with  the  women,  boys  and  girls,  who 
crowded  like  young  colts  in  a  herd,  close  to  the  prisoners. 
The  men  halted  in  silence,  coughing  now  and  then  or 
making  an  occasional  remark.  But  the  women  talked  in 
cessantly.  Nekhliidof  fancied  that  he  recognized  Maslova 
as  she  came  out,  but  she  was  soon  lost  among  the  others, 
and  he  saw  only  a  crowd  of  gray  creatures  apparently  de 
void  of  all  that  was  human  or  womanly,  with  children  and 
sacks,  taking  their  places  behind  the  men. 

Although  all  the  prisoners  were  counted  inside  the 
prison  walls,  the  convoy  counted  them  over,  comparing 
with  the  former  lists.  This  process  lasted  a  long  time, — 
the  longer  because  some  of  the  prisoners  moved  from  place 
to  place  and  by  so  doing  confused  the  counting.  The 
soldiers  of  the  convoy  shouted  and  pushed  the  seemingly 
submissive  but  really  infuriated  prisoners,  and  began  the 
count  over  again.  When  all  had  been  once  more  counted, 
the  officer  of  the  convoy  gave  some  order  which  caused 
confusion  in  the  crowd.  The  invalid  men,  the  women  and 
children,  trying  to  overtake  each  other,  ran  to  the  carts 
and  began  to  dispose  and  arrange  their  sacks  and  to  climb 
up  themselves.  Women  with  crying,  nursing  infants, 
merry  children  disputing  for  seats,  and  sober,  dejected 
prisoners  —  all  climbed  up  and  seated  themselves  on  the 
carts. 

Several  prisoners,  taking  off  their  hats,  approached  the 


136  RESURRECTION 

officer  of  the  convoy  to  ask  him  for  something.  Nekhlii- 
dof  saw  the  latter,  silently  and  without  looking  up  at  the 
petitioners,  draw  in  a  long  whiff  of  his  cigarette  and  raise 
his  short  arm  in  front  of  one  of  the  prisoners;  he  saw  the 
latter,  as  though  expecting  a  blow,  jerk  back  his  shaven 
head  and  spring  aside. 

"I  will  make  you  remember  your  airs  of  nobility  so 
that  you  won't  forget  it.  You'll  go  on  foot!"  shouted 
the  officer. 

Only  an  old  and  tottering  man,  with  fetters  on  his 
'egs,  was  allowed  to  take  a  seat  in  a  cart,  and  Nekhliidof 
saw  the  old  man,  taking  off  his  pancake-shaped  cap,  cross 
himself  as  he  went  towards  them,  and  how  for  some 
time  he  was  unable  to  get  up  on  the  cart,  as  the  chains 
prevented  him  from  raising  his  old  leg,  and  he  saw  a 
woman  who  was  already  seated  in  the  cart  give  him  a 
helping  hand. 

When  the  carts  were  laden  with  the  sacks  on  which 
were  seated  those  who  were  allowed  to  ride,  the  officer 
of  the  convoy  took  off  his  cap  and  having  wiped  his 
forehead,  his  bald  head,  and  his  thick  red  neck,  he  too 
made  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

"Forward,  march!"  he  commanded.  The  soldiers 
clicked  their  guns,  the  prisoners  took  off  their  caps,  and 
some  doing  this  with  their  left  hand  crossed  themselves; 
those  who  came  to  see  them  off  shouted  something,  to 
which  the  prisoners  shouted  something  in  reply,  the  women 
began  to  wail  and  the  party  surrounded  by  soldiers  in 
white  coats  moved  on,  raising  the  dust  with  their  feet. 
The  soldiers  marched  at  the  head,  then  with  their  clank 
ing  chains  came  those  condemned  to  hard  labor,  four 
abreast,  then  the  exiles,  then  the  communal  prisoners, 
manacled  in  pairs,  and  then  the  women.  Last  of  all 
came  the  carts  laden  with  the  bags  and  the  feeble-bodied 
prisoners.  On  one  of  the  carts  sat  high  up  among  the 
luggage  a  woman  closely  wrapped,  who  shrieked  and 
sobbed  incessantly. 


RESURRECTION  137 


XXXV. 

THE  procession  was  so  long  that  when  the  men  in  the 
front  ranks  were  no  longer  in  sight,  the  carts  with  the 
feeble-bodied  and  the  sacks  had  but  just  started.  Nekhlii- 
dof  jumped  into  the  drdshky  of  the  izvdstchik  who  was 
waiting  for  him,  and  told  him  to  drive  somewhat  ahead 
of  the  gang,  so  that  he  would  be  able  to  see  if  there  were 
among  the  men  any  of  the  prisoners  he  knew,  and  to  find 
M£slova  among  the  women  and  ask  her  whether  she  had 
received  the  things  he  had  sent  her. 

It  had  grown  very  hot.  There  was  no  wind,  and  a  cloud 
of  dust,  raised  by  thousands  of  feet,  hung  over  the  prison 
ers,  who  marched  in  the  middle  of  the  street.  They 
were  marching  quickly,  and  the  slow  horse  of  Nekhlii- 
dof's  izvdstchik  did  not  make  much  headway.  Row 
after  row  they  marched — these  strange  and  gruesome- 
looking  creatures,  thousands  of  feet  dressed  alike,  all 
keeping  time,  swinging  their  free  arms  as  though  to  keep 
up  their  spirits.  There  was  such  a  multitude,  they 
looked  so  much  alike,  and  were  placed  in  such  strange 
and  unusual  conditions,  that  to  Nekhludof  they  no  longer 
seemed  to  be  men,  but  some  uncanny  and  supernatural 
order  of  beings.  This  impression  was  shattered  by  the 
recognition  among  the  convicts  of  FSdorof,  the  murderer, 
and  among  the  exiles  of  his  acquaintance  the  comedian 
Okhdtin  and  another  tramp  whom  he  had  assisted. 
Most  of  them  looked  around,  casting  an  eye  at  the 
drdshky  and  the  gentleman  in  it.  Fedorof  jerked  his  head 
up  as  a  sign  that  he  had  recognized  Nekhliidof,  and 
Okhdtin  winked  at  him.  But  neither  bowed,  considering 
it  against  the  rules.  When  he  came  abreast  of  the  women, 
he  recognized  Maslova  at  once.  She  walked  in  the  second 
row.  On  the  outside  was  a  short-limbed,  dark,  ugly- 
looking  woman  who  kept  tucking  her  cloak  into  her 
girdle.  Then  came  a  pregnant  woman  hardly  able  to 


138  RESURRECTION 

drag  one  foot  after  the  other,  and  Ma"slova  was  the  third. 
She  carried  a  sack  on  her  shoulder  and  looked  straight 
ahead.  Her  face  was  calm  and  resolute.  The  fourth  in 
the  row,  Feddsya,  was  a  good-looking  young  woman,  in  a 
short  prisoner's  coat  and  a  kerchief  on  her  head,  worn 
peasant  fashion.  Nekhltidof  got  off  and  went  up  to  the 
women,  wishing  to  ask  Mdslova  whether  she  had  received 
the  things  and  also  how  she  was  feeling.  But  the  ser 
geant  who  was  marching  alongside  noticed  him  at  once 
and  came  running  up  to  him. 

"You  are  not  allowed  to  go  near  the  gang,  mister,"  he 
shouted  as  he  ran.  When  he  overtook  NekhMdof  he 
recognized  him,  for  Nekhludof  was  already  a  familiar 
figure  in  the  prison,  and  saluting  him  in  military  fashion, 
he  halted  beside  him,  saying: 

"You  can't  do  it  now;  wait  till  we  reach  the  station; 
here  it's  against  the  rules.  Don't  be  dawdling  there! 
Hurry  on!"  he  shouted  to  the  prisoners,  and  briskly, 
in  spite  of  the  heat  and  his  new  nobby  boots,  ran  back 
to  his  place. 

Nekhludof  returned  to  the  sidewalk,  and  telling  his 
izvdstchik  to  follow  him,  he  walked  after  the  gang  so  as 
not  to  lose  sight  of  them.  As  the  gang  proceeded 
through  the  streets,  it  aroused  a  mingled  feeling  of  horror 
and  compassion.  Those  who  passed  it  in  carriages  looked 
out  of  the  windows  and  followed  the  prisoners  with  their 
eyes.  The  foot-passengers  halted  and  gazed  with  alarm 
and  surprise  at  this  terrible  sight.  Some  went  up  to 
them  and  offered  them  alms.  The  convoy  received  it. 
Some  followed  it  as  though  they  had  been  hypnotized, 
but  finally  desisted  and  shaking  their  heads  stood  still 
and  followed  only  with  their  eyes.  People  ran  out  of 
doors  and  gates  calling  to  each  other,  others  leaned  out 
of  the  windows,  silent  and  motionless,  watching  the 
terrifying  procession.  At  one  of  the  cross  streets  a  fine 
open  carriage  was  held  up  by  the  gang.  A  coachman 
with  a  shining  face,  padded  back,  and  rows  of  buttons 


RESURRECTION  139 

sat  on  the  box.  The  back  seat  was  occupied  by  a  husband 
and  wife.  The  wife,  slender  and  pale,  in  a  light-colored 
bonnet,  with  a  bright  sunshade,  the  husband  in  a  tall  hat 
and  a  light,  natty  overcoat.  The  children  sat  on  the 
front  seat.  A  carefully  dressed  and  sweet-looking 
girl,  as  pretty  as  a  pink,  with  flowing  blond  hair,  also 
holding  a  bright  sunshade,  and  an  eight-year-old  boy, 
with  a  long,  slim  neck  and  prominent  collar  bone,  wearing 
a  sailor  hat  trimmed  with  a  long  ribbon.  The  father  was 
angrily  upbraiding  the  coachman  for  not  crossing  in  time, 
while  the  mother  puckered  her  face  and  looked  disgusted 
as  she  almost  covered  her  face  with  her  silk  sunshade  to 
keep  out  the  sun  and  the  dust.  The  padded  coachman 
frowned  angrily,  while  listening  to  his  master's  unjust 
reprimand,  for  it  was  he  who  had  ordered  him  to  drive  on 
that  street,  and  he  had  some  difficulty  in  restraining  the 
shining  black  stallions,  flecked  with  foam  under  their 
collars  and  impatient  to  go  on.  The  policeman  would 
have  gladly  pleased  the  wealthy  owner  by  stopping  the 
procession  of  convicts  and  allowing  him  to  pass,  but  he 
felt  that  there  was  a  certain  dismal  solemnity  about  it 
which  could  not  be  violated  even  to  please  such  a  rich 
gentleman.  He  only  raised  his  fingers  to  his  vizor  as  a 
sign  of  his  regard  for  wealth,  and  looked  severely  at  the 
convicts,  as  though  promising  in  any  case  to  protect  the 
occupants  of  the  carriage.  At  all  events,  the  carriage 
was  compelled  to  wait  until  the  procession  had  passed, 
and  did  not  start  until  the  last  cart  with  the  sacks  and  the 
prisoners  seated  on  them  had  passed  by.  The  hysterical 
woman,  who  had  quieted  down,  began  to  sob  and  shriek 
again  when  she  saw  the  rich  turn-out.  It  was  only  at 
that  moment  that  the  coachman  slightly  moved  the  reins 
and  the  black  trotters,  their  hoofs  ringing  on  the  pave 
ment,  whirled  the  carriage,  easily  swayed  on  its  rubber 
tires,  away  into  the  country  house,  where  husband  and 
wife,  the  girl  with  the  thin  neck,  and  the  boy  with  pro 
jecting  collar  bones  were  going  to  make  merry. 


140  RESURRECTION 

Neither  the  father  nor  the  mother  made  any  comments 
on  what  they  had  seen,  so  that  the  children  were  obliged 
to  solve  for  themselves  the  meaning  of  what  they  saw. 

The  girl,  as  she  watched  the  expressions  on  the  faces 
of  the  father  and  mother,  decided  that  the  people  she  had 
seen  were  of  a  different  kind  from  her  parents  and  their 
friends,  that  they  were  probably  naughty,  and  that  they 
ought  to  be  treated  in  that  way;  so  she  only  felt  fright 
ened  and  was  glad  when  the  people  were  out  of  sight. 

But  the  long-necked  boy,  who  had  watched  the  pro 
cession  intently,  decided  the  question  differently.  He  was 
sure,  for  without  doubt  he  had  the  knowledge  from  God. 
that  these  men  and  women  were  like  himself  and  like  the 
rest  of  mankind,  and  that  something  wicked  was  happen 
ing  to  them,  something  that  ought  not  to  be  done  to  them, 
and  he  was  sorry  for  them  and  felt  a  terror  not  only  of 
those  who  were  shaven  and  chained,  but  of  those  who 
had  caused  them  to  be  chained  and  shaven.  That  was 
why  the  boy's  lips  pouted  more  and  more,  and  he  made 
greater  efforts  to  keep  back  his  tears,  thinking  it  mortify 
ing  to  cry  on  such  occasions. 

XXXVI. 

NEKHLUDOF  kept  up  with  the  quick  step  of  the  convicts, 
but  even  dressed  as  lightly  as  he  was  in  a  thin  overcoat, 
he  found  the  dust  and  the  close,  hot  atmosphere  of  the 
streets  extremely  uncomfortable.  After  marching  for 
half  a  mile  he  took  his  seat  in  the  drdshky  and  drove  ahead, 
but  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  in  the  sun,  he  felt  the  heat 
still  more.  He  tried  to  recall  the  memory  of  yesterday's 
conversation  with  his  brother-in-law,  but  it  no  longer 
excited  him  as  it  had  done  this  morning.  The  impres 
sions  made  by  the  start  of  the  prisoners  and  the  procession 
had  overshadowed  the  memories  of  the  past.  But  above  all 
he  was  overcome  by  the  heat.  Two  boys,  public  school 
pupils,  with  their  hats  off  stood  in  front  of  an  ice-cream 


RESURRECTION  141 

vender  who  squatted  before  them  in  the  shade -of  a  fence. 
One  of  the  boys  was  already  enjoying  it,  licking  the  horn 
spoon,  while  the  other  watched  his  tumbler,  which  was 
heaped  with  something  yellow. 

"Where  can  I  get  a  drink?"  asked  Nekhliidof  of  his 
iwdstchik,  feeling  an  overwhelming  desire  for  refreshment. 

"We  are  coming  to  a  good  place!"  said  the  izvdstchik 
and  turned  the  corner,  driving  Nekhliidof  to  a  doorway 
with  a  large  sign  above  it.  A  fat  clerk  dressed  in  a  Rus 
sian  shirt  stood  behind  the  counters,  and  the  waiters 
whose  clothes  had  once  been  white,  and  who  sat  at  the 
tables  because  they  had  no  customers,  looked  curiously 
at  this  unusual  visitor  and  offered  to  serve  him.  Nekhlii 
dof  called  for  Seltzer  water  and  took  a  seat  away  from  the 
window  at  a  little  table  covered  with  a  soiled  cloth. 
Two  other  men  sat  at  a  table,  with  a  tea  tray  and  a  white 
glass  bottle  before  them,  mopping  their  brows  and 
making  some  friendly  calculations.  One  was  dark  and 
bald  with  a  fringe  of  black  hair  at  the  back  of  his  head, 
like  the  one  his  brother-in-law  wore.  This  sight  re 
minded  him  again  of  yesterday's  conversation  and  his 
own  desire  to  see  both  his  sister  and  her  husband  once  more 
before  his  departure.  "I  should  hardly  have  time  be 
fore  the  train  leaves,  and  I  suppose  it  would  be  wiser  to 
write,"  he  said  to  himself,  and  asking  for  a  sheet  of  paper, 
an  envelope,  and  a  stamp,  he  began  to  consider  what  he 
should  write,  as  he  sat  sipping  the  sparkling  water. 
But  his  thoughts  were  so  vague  and  distracted,  he  found 
it  impossible  to  write  the  letter. 

"My  dear  Natasha,"  he  began,  "I  cannot  bear  to  go 
away  remembering  my  conversation  last  night  with  your 

husband  without "  "What  next?  Am  I  going  to 

apologize  for  my  words  of  yesterday  ?  I  only  said  what  I 
thought,  and  it  will  give  him  the  impression  that  I  am 
retracting  what  I  said,  and  his  meddling  with  my  business 
too.  No,  I  cannot  do  it,"  and  his  dislike  for  this  always 
objectionable,  self-conceited  man,  this  stranger  who 


i42  RESURRECTION 

hadn't  the  faintest  conception  of  Nekhliidof's  purpose 
in  life,  increased  in  violence.  He  put  the  unfinished  letter 
into  his  pocket  and  paying  for  the  glass  of  Seltzer  went 
out  and  drove  on  to  overtake  the  party.  The  heat  had 
increased.  The  walls  and  the  stones  seemed  to  exude  hot 
air.  The  pavement  scorched  his  feet,  and  when  he  touched 
the  lacquered  wing  of  the  droshky  it  fairly  burned  his 
hand.  The  horse  jogged  along  the  dusty  and  uneven 
pavement,  monotonously  clanking  its  hoofs,  while  the 
izvdstchik  dozed  on  his  box.  Nekhludof  sat  gazing  in 
differently  ahead,  thinking  of  nothing  in  particular.  At 
the  end  of  the  street,  before  a  gate  of  a  large  house,  stood 
a  soldier  of  the  convoy  with  his  musket.  A  group  of 
people  had  gathered  around  him. 

Nekhludof  told  the  izvdstchik  to  stop. 

"What's  going  on  here?"  he  asked  a  house  porter. 

"Something  is  the  matter  with  one  of  the  convicts." 

Nekhludof  left  the  droshky  and  approached  the  group. 
A  thick-set,  elderly  convict,  with  a  red  beard  and  face  and 
a  snub  nose,  clad  in  a  gray  coat  and  trousers,  was  lying  on 
the  rough  cobblestones  which  slanted  towards  the  gutter, 
his  feet  higher  than  his  head.  He  lay  on  his  back  with 
the  palms  of  his  freckled  hands  downwards,  and  at  inter 
vals  his  broad  high  chest  heaved  convulsively  and  he 
gasped,  gazing  at  the  sky  with  his  fixed,  bloodshot  eyes. 
A  frowning  policeman  looked  down  on  him,  also  a  street 
vender,  a  letter  carrier,  a  clerk,  an  old  woman  with  a 
parasol,  and  a  boy  with  clipped  hair  holding  an  empty 
basket. 

"  They  grow  weak  in  jail,  and  then  they  bring  them  out 
into  this  fiery  furnace,"  said  the  clerk,  who  felt  that  some 
body  must  be  to  blame  and  addressing  Nekhludof,  who 
had  joined  the  group. 

"He  will  die,  most  likely,"  said  the  woman  with  the 
sunshade,  in  a  tearful  voice. 

"You  ought  to  loosen  his  shirt,"  said  the  letter-carrier. 

The  policeman  with  his  thick,  trembling,  clumsy  fingers 


RESURRECTION  143 

began  to  loosen  the  tapes  on  the  muscular  red  neck.  He 
was  evidently  excited  and  confused,  but  he  still  felt  that 
his  duty  required  him  to  address  the  crowd. 

"What  are  you  gaping  about  here?  It's  hot  enough 
anyway,  and  you  are  keeping  off  the  breeze." 

"  The  doctor  should  have  seen  to  it  that  the  weak  ones 
were  left  hi  the  prison,  and  not  have  allowed  a  dead  and 
alive  man,  like  this,  to  be  carried  half  alive,"  remarked  the 
clerk,  evidently  proud  of  his  knowledge  of  the  regulations. 

The  policeman,  having  untied  the  strings  of  the  shirt, 
straightened  himself  up  and  looked  round. 

"Go  on  about  your  business,  I  tell  you!  This  is  no 
affair  of  yours,  and  what  are  you  staring  at  anyway?" 
he  asked,  turning  towards  Nekhliidof  for  sympathy,  but 
not  finding  it  in  his  eyes  he  glanced  at  the  convoy.  But 
the  convoy  was  absorbed  in  examining  his  own  down 
trodden  heel  and  wholly  indifferent  to  the  dilemma  of  the 
policeman. 

"Those  whose  business  it  is  to  look  after,  don't  care." 

"Are  men  allowed  to  die  like  this ?" 

"He  is  only  a  convict,  to  be  sure,  but  still  he's  a  human 
being,"  the  crowd  were  heard  to  murmur. 

"Prop  his  head  up  higher  and  give  him  water,"  said 
Nekhliidof. 

"They've  gone  to  fetch  it,"  replied  the  policeman,  and 
taking  the  convict  under  the  armpits  with  difficulty  pulled 
the  body  a  little  higher. 

"  What  does  all  this  crowd  mean  ?"  suddenly  came  from 
a  decided  commanding  voice,  and  a  police  officer  stepping 
quickly  approached  the  group  that  had  gathered  about  the 
prisoner.  He  was  nattily  dressed  in  a  spotlessly  clean 
white  uniform  with  still  more  shining  boot-tops. 

"Move  on!  You  have  no  business  here!"  he  shouteo 
to  the  crowd,  without  waiting  to  learn  why  they  had 
gathered.  But  as  he  came  and  saw  the  dying  convict, 
he  nodded  his  head  as  though  it  was  only  what  might 
have  been  expected. 


i44  RESURRECTION 

"  What  happened?"  he  said,  addressing  the  policeman. 
The  policeman  reported  that  while  a  gang  of  convicts 
was  passing,  this  man  had  fallen,  and  that  the  officer  of 
the  convoy  ordered  him  to  be  left  behind. 

"  Well,  what  of  that  ?  Why  didn't  you  take  him  to  the 
police  station  ?  Call  an  izvdstchik!" 

"The  house  porter  has  gone  to  call  one,"  said  the 
policeman,  raising  his  hand  to  his  vizor. 

The  clerk  began  to  make  a  remark  about  the 
heat. 

"  What  business  of  yours  is  the  heat  ?  Move  on,  I  tell 
you,"  said  the  police  officer,  and  he  gave  the  clerk  such  a 
severe  look  that  he  said  no  more. 

"He  should  have  water  to  drink,"  said  Nekhludof. 
The  police  officer  looked  severely  at  Nekhludof  but  said 
nothing.  But  when  the  house  porter  brought  a  jug  of 
water  he  bade  the  policeman  offer  some  to  the  convict. 
The  policeman  raised  the  head  that  had  fallen  backwards 
and  tried  to  pour  the  water  into  the  prisoner's  mouth, 
but  the  latter  could  not  swallow  it.  The  water  ran  down 
his  beard,  wetting  the  front  of  his  jacket  and  his  coarse, 
dusty  shirt. 

"Pour  it  over  his  head!"  ordered  the  police  officer,  and 
the  policeman,  taking  off  the  pancake-shaped  cap,  poured 
the  water  over  the  curly  hair  and  the  bald  skull.  The 
convict's  eyes  seemed  to  open  a  little  wider  as  though 
startled,  but  his  position  did  not  change.  Streams  of 
dirty  water  trickled  down  his  face,  but  from  the  mouth 
came  the  same  regular  gasps,  and  the  whole  body  was 
convulsed. 

"And  how  about  this  drdshky  here?  Take  this  one," 
he  said,  addressing  the  policeman,  and  pointing  at 
Nekhlridof's  izvdstchik.  "Drive  up  this  way!" 

"I  am  engaged,"  said  the  izvdstchik  glumly,  without 
raising  his  eyes. 

"That's  my  izvdstchik,"  said  Nekhlddof.  "I  will  pay 
you  now,"  said  Nekhliidof,  turning  to  the  izvdstchik. 


RESURRECTION  145 

"Well,  why  don't  you  make  a  move?  There,  take 
hold!"  cried  the  police  officer. 

The  policeman,  the  house  porter,  and  the  convoy  raised 
the  dying  man  and  carried  him  to  the  drdshky,  trying  to 
make  him  sit  up.  But  he  could  not  hold  himself  up. 
His  head  fell  back  and  his  body  slipped  off  the  seat. 

"Lay  him  down!"  ordered  the  police  officer. 

"That's  all  right,  your  honor;  I'll  manage  to  get  him 
there,"  said  the  policeman,  firmly  taking  his  seat  beside 
the  dying  man  and  passing  his  strong  right  arm  under 
the  arms  of  the  prisoner. 

The  convoy  raised  the  stockingless  feet  in  the  prison 
shoes  and  stretched  them  out  in  the  drdshky. 

The  police  officer  looked  back,  and  perceiving  on  the 
pavement  the  flat  cap  of  the  convict  he  picked  it  up  and 
placed  it  on  the  wet  head  that  was  bent  backwards. 
"Go  on!"  he  shouted. 

The  izvostchik  looked  angrily  around  and,  accompanied 
by  the  soldier  of  the  convoy,  started  to  walk  his  horse 
back  to  the  police  station.  The  policeman  who  sat  beside 
the  convict  kept  dragging  up  the  slipping  body  with  its 
swaying  head.  The  convoy  who  walked  beside  them  was 
kept  busy  tucking  the  feet.  Nekhliidof  followed  them. 

XXXVII. 

PASSING  the  fireman  sentinel  at  the  police  station,  the 
drdshky  with  the  convict  drove  into  the  yard  and  halted 
at  one  of  the  entrances. 

The  firemen  in  the  yard,  with  tucked-up  shirt-sleeves, 
were  laughing  and  talking  in  loud  voices,  as  they  were 
busily  washing  a  cart.  As  soon  as  the  drdshky  stopped, 
several  policemen  surrounded  it,  and  taking  hold  of  the 
lifeless  body  of  the  convict  under  the  arms  and  legs 
removed  him  from  the  drdshky,  that  creaked  under  his 
weight.  The  policeman  who  had  brought  him,  on  getting 
out  of  the  conveyance  began  to  swing  his  benumbed  arm 

VOL.    II. — IO 


i46  RESURRECTION 

to  and  fro;  he  took  off  his  cap  and  crossed  himself.  The 
dead  body  was  carried  through  the  door  and  up  the  stairs. 
Nekhludof  followed.  In  a  small,  dirty  room  where  the 
body  of  the  dead  man  was  deposited,  there  were  four 
bunks.  Two  invalids  in  hospital  dressing-gowns  were 
sitting  on  two  of  them,  one  man  with  his  mouth  askew 
and  with  a  bandaged  neck,  and  the  other  a  consumptive. 

The  two  other  bunks  were  unoccupied,  and  the  body  of 
the  convict  was  placed  on  one  of  them.  A  small  man 
with  shining  eyes  and  quivering  eyebrows,  clad  in  under 
garments  and  stockings,  came  up  with  swift  and  silent 
steps,  looked  first  at  the  convict  and  then  at  Nekhliidof 
and  burst  into  a  peal  of  laughter.  It  was  a  madman  who 
was  kept  in  the  police  hospital. 

"They  are  trying  to  frighten  me,  but  they  can't  do  it!" 
he  said. 

The  medical  assistant  and  the  police  officer  followed 
those  who  carried  the  corpse. 

The  medical  assistant  went  up  to  the  body,  touched  the 
cold,  yellowish,  freckled  hand,  which  although  not  quite 
stiff  was  already  deadly  pale,  held  it  awhile  and  then 
dropped  it.  It  fell  lifeless  on  the  stomach  of  the  dead 
man. 

"It  is  all  over  with  him,"  said  the  medical  assistant, 
nodding  his  head;  but  intending  evidently  to  keep  within 
the  rules  in  cases  of  this  kind,  he  opened  the  coarse,  wet 
shirt  and  brushing  aside  his  own  curly  hair,  he  put  his 
ear  against  the  high,  motionless  chest  of  the  convict.  All 
were  silent. 

The  medical  assistant  straightened  himself,  nodded  his 
head  once  more,  and  then  pressed  his  finger  on  first  one 
and  then  on  the  other  lid,  drawing  them  over  the  open 
staring  eyes. 

"You  are  not  going  to  scare  me,  I  can  tell  you  that!" 
repeated  the  madman,  all  the  time  spitting  in  the  direction 
of  the  medical  assistant. 

"Well?"  said  the  police  officer. 


RESURRECTION  147 

"Well  what?"  repeated  the  medical  assistant.  "He'll 
have  to  be  carried  into  the  mortuary." 

"Are  you  sure?"  asked  the  police  officer. 

"I  ought  to  be,"  replied  the  medical  assistant,  closing, 
for  some  reason,  the  shirt  over  the  chest  of  the  dead  man. 
"I  will  send  for  Mattve"y  Ivdnovitch  and  let  him  have  a 
look.  Go  for  him,  Petrdv,"  said  the  medical  assistant 
and  stepped  aside. 

"Take  him  to  the  mortuary,"  said  the  police  officer. 
"Then  come  to  the  office  and  sign,"  he  added,  addressing 
the  soldier  of  the  convoy,  who  all  this  time  had  not  left 
the  convict  for  one  moment. 

"Yes,  sir,"  replied  the  convoy. 

The  policemen  raised  the  dead  body  and  carried  it 
again  downstairs.  Nekhliidof  wanted  to  follow  them, 
but  the  crazy  man  detained  him. 

"You  are  not  one  of  the  conspirators,  so  give  me  a 
cigarette,"  he  said. 

Nekhliidof  took  out  his  cigar  case  and  gave  him  one. 
The  madman  moving  his  brows  began  to  talk  rapidly  and 
to  tell  how  he  was  tormented  by  thought  suggestion. 

"  They  are  all  against  me,  every  one  of  them,  and  they 
torment  me  through  their  mediums " 

"Excuse  me,"  said  Nekhliidof,  and  without  stopping  to 
listen  to  him,  he  went  out  into  the  yard,  anxious  to  know 
where  the  dead  man  would  be  carried. 

The  policemen  with  their  load  had  crossed  the  yard  and 
were  already  about  to  enter  the  door  of  the  basement 
Nekhliidof  attempted  to  draw  near,  but  the  policeman 
stopped  him. 

"What  do  you  want?" 

"Nothing,"  replied  Nekhliidof. 

"If  you  want  nothing,  then  you  had  better  go." 

Nekhliidof  submitted  and  returned  to  his  izvdstchikj 
who  was  dozing.  Nekhliidof  aroused  him  and  started 
once  more  towards  the  railway  station.  But  he  had 
hardly  driven  a  hundred  feet  when  he  met  a  cart  also 


148  RESURRECTION 

accompanied  by  a  soldier  of  the  convoy  with  a  musket  on 
his  shoulder.  Another  dead  convict  was  stretched  out  on 
it.  He  lay  upon  his  back.  His  shaven  head  with  its 
black  beard,  the  pancake-shaped  hat  above  it,  which  had 
slipped  down  to  his  nose,  swayed  and  was  jerked  up  and 
down  at  every  jolt.  The  driver,  in  thick  boots,  walked 
beside  the  cart,  holding  the  reins  in  his  hands.  A  police 
man  brought  up  the  rear.  NekhMdof  touched  the 
izvdstchik  on  the  shoulder. 

"Oh,  what  are  they  doing!"  exclaimed  the  izvdstchik, 
stopping  his  horse. 

Nekhliidof  jumped  off  the  drdshky  and  following  the 
cart  driver  and  passing  the  fireman,  he  once  more  entered 
the  yard  of  the  police  station.  The  firemen  had  finished 
cleaning  the  cart,  and  a  tall,  raw-boned  man,  the  chief  of 
the  fire  brigade,  with  a  band  round  his  cap  and  his  hands 
in  his  pockets,  was  standing  in  their  place.  He  was 
inspecting  a  bay  stallion  with  a  fat  neck,  which  a  fireman 
was  leading  up  and  down  before  him.  The  stallion  was 
somewhat  lame  in  his  fore  leg  and  the  chief  was  angrily 
remonstrating  with  the  veterinary. 

The  police  officer  was  also  there.  Seeing  another 
corpse,  he  went  up  to  the  driver  of  the  cart. 

"Where  did  you  pick  him  up?"  he  asked,  shaking  his 
head  with  disapproval. 

"On  Old  Gorbatovsky  Street,"  replied  the  police 
officer. 

"A  convict?"  asked  the  chief  of  the  fire  brigade. 

"Yes,  sir.  It's  the  second  one  to-day,"  replied  the 
police  officer. 

" Queer  goings-on,  these,  I  say!  And  in  all  this  heat!" 
said  the  chief  of  the  fire  department,  and  turning  towards 
the  fireman,  who  was  leading  away  the  lame  stallion,  he 
shouted,  "Put  him  in  the  corner  stall!  I'll  teach  you, 

you ,  how  to  maim  horses  that  are  worth  more 

than  you  are  yourself,  you  rascal!" 

The  second  corpse  was  also  lifted  from  the  cart  by  the 


RESURRECTION  149 

policemen  and  carried  into  the  hospital.  Nekhludof 
followed  it  as  though  he  had  been  hypnotized. 

"What  do  you  want?"  a  policeman  asked  him,  but  he 
passed  in  without  replying,  and  followed  the  body  to  the 
room  where  it  was  being  carried. 

The  madman  seated  on  the  bunk  was  greedily  smoking 
the  cigarette  Nekhludof  had  given  him. 

"Oh,  you  have  come  back!"  he  cried  and  burst  out 
laughing.  On  seeing  the  corpse  he  frowned.  "  Another 
one!"  he  said.  "  I  am  tired  of  them.  If  they  think  I  am 
a  boy,  I  can  tell  them  they  are  mistaken.  Isn't  that  true  ?" 
he  added,  turning  to  Nekhludof  with  a  questioning 
smile. 

Meanwhile  Nekhludof  looked  at  the  dead  body,  which 
was  now  lying  alone.  The  face  formerly  hidden  by  the 
cap  was  in  full  sight.  As  the  other  convict  had  been 
more  than  commonly  hideous,  this  one  was  remarkably 
handsome  both  in  face  and  in  body.  He  was  still  in  the 
full  vigor  of  manhood.  Although  the  half-shaven  head 
was  disfigured,  the  low,  straight  forehead  above  the  now 
lifeless  black  eyes  was  very  handsome,  as  also  was  the 
delicately  curved  Roman  nose  above  the  small  black 
mustache.  A  smile  still  hovered  on  the  lips  that  were 
now  turning  blue.  A  small  beard  fringed  only  the  lower 
part  of  the  face.  The  shaven  side  of  the  skull  revealed  a 
delicate,  well-shaped  ear.  The  expression  of  the  coun 
tenance  was  severe  and  calm,  yet  not  unkindly.  Even  if 
one  took  no  account  of  this  man's  spiritual  and  intellectual 
possibilities,  destroyed  by  cruel  usage,  no  one  could  fail 
to  perceive  by  the  slender  bones  of  the  fettered  hands  and 
feet,  and  by  the  strong  muscles  of  the  well-proportioned 
limbs,  what  a  fine,  vigorous,  and  agile  human  animal  he 
had  been,  —  even  as  an  animal,  much  more  perfect  than  the 
young  stallion  whose  injury  had  stirred  the  chief  of  the 
brigade  to  such  fury.  And  yet  he  had  been  abused  unto 
death,  and  not  only  was  there  no  one  to  pity  him,  even 
as  a  working  animal  who  had  been  driven  to  death,  but 


150  RESURRECTION 

the  only  feeling  that  his  death  called  forth  was  one  of 
annoyance  for  the  trouble  caused  by  the  necessity  for 
attending  to  the  threatening  decay  of  his  body.  A  doctor 
accompanied  by  his  assistant  and  a  police  inspector  entered 
the  room.  The  doctor  was  a  portly,  thick-set  man  in  a 
pongee  coat  and  trousers  that  clung  to  his  muscular 
limbs.  The  police  inspector  was  short  and  stout,  with  a 
red,  round  face,  which  looked  still  rounder  from  a  habit 
he  had  of  puffing  out  his  cheeks  and  expelling  the  air 
again.  The  doctor  squeezed  himself  in  beside  the  corpse, 
and  like  his  assistant  proceeded  to  touch  the  hands  and 
listen  to  the  heart.  He  rose,  adjusting  his  trousers  as  he 
did  so. 

"No  man  could  be  more  dead  than  he  is,"  he  said. 

The  inspector  filled  his  cheeks  with  air  and  slowly  let 
it  out  again. 

"From  what  prison?"  he  asked  the  soldier  of  the 
convoy. 

The  convoy  replied  and  reminded  them  of  the  chains 
which  were  still  on  the  body. 

"I  will  order  them  to  be  removed.  We  have  black 
smiths,  the  Lord  be  praised,"  said  the  inspector,  and 
again  puffing  out  his  cheeks  he  went  towards  the  door, 
slowly  allowing  it  to  escape. 

"Why  did  this  happen?"  asked  Nekhliidof  of  the 
doctor. 

"What  do  you  mean?  How  do  men  die  from  sun 
stroke?  This  is  one  of  the  ways:  When  they  are  kept 
without  light  and  exercise  all  winter  long,  and  then  all  of 
a  sudden  brought  out  into  the  sunlight  on  such  a  day  as 
this  and  made  to  march  in  a  crowd  without  the  slightest 
breeze  to  cool  them,  then  they  get  sunstruck " 

"Then  why  are  they  sent  out?" 

"You  must  find  that  out  from  those  who  send  them. 
But  who  may  you  be  ?" 

"A  stranger." 

"Ah,  I  wish  you  good  day   ...   I  am  busy,"  said 


RESURRECTION  151 

the  doctor  with  an  air  of  vexation,  and  he  began  to  pull 
his  trousers  into  shape  as  he  crossed  over  to  the  bunks  of 
the  patients. 

"Well,  how  are  you  feeling?"  he  asked  the  pale  man 
with  the  crooked  mouth  and  bandaged  neck. 

The  madman  meanwhile  was  sitting  on  his  bunk,  and 
having  finished  his  smoke,  was  now  spitting  towards  the 
doctor. 

Nekhludof  went  down  into  the  yard,  past  the  firemen's 
horses,  the  hens,  and  the  sentry  in  his  brass  helmet;  then 
he  passed  through  the  gate  and  found  his  ixvtistchik,  who 
had  once  more  fallen  asleep,  and  was  driven  to  the  railway 
station. 

XXXVIII. 

WHEN  Nekhludof  reached  the  station  he  found  the  con 
victs  already  seated  in  the  cars  behind  the  barred  windows. 
Several  persons  who  had  come  to  see  them  off  were  stand 
ing  on  the  platform,  but  they  were  not  allowed  to  approach 
the  cars.  To-day  the  convoy  were  especially  disturbed  in 
their  minds.  On  the  way  from  the  prison  to  the  railway 
station,  besides  the  two  men  whom  Nekhliidof  had  seen, 
three  others  had  fallen  and  died  from  sunstroke.  One 
of  these  had  been  removed,  like  the  earlier  cases;  to  the 
nearest  police  station,  and  two  had  died  in  the  railway 
station.1  The  convoy  men  were  troubled,  not  because 
five  men  who  might  have  been  living  yet,  had  died  under 
their  charge.  That  was  not  what  troubled  them,  but 
because  they  were  anxious  to  do  all  that  the  law  exacted 
of  them  on  such  occasions,  which  meant  to  deliver  the 
dead,  their  documents  and  possessions,  and  to  remove 
from  the  lists  those  who  were  to  be  sent  to  Nijni,  which 
was  very  difficult,  particularly  in  this  weather. 

1  In  the  beginning  of  the  8o's  five  convicts  died  in  one  day  while  being  trans 
ported  from  the  Boutyrsk  Prison  (in  Moscow)  to  the  Nijni  Novgorod  R.  R. 
Station. 


152  RESURRECTION 

It  was  this  that  perplexed  the  convoy,  therefore  until 
everything  pertaining  to  this  business  had  been  settled, 
neither  Nekhliidof  nor  any  one  else  could  get  permission 
to  approach  the  train.  Nekhliidof,  however,  by  means  of 
a  bribe  to  the  convoy-sergeant,  was  allowed  to  slip  in,  but 
only  on  condition  that  he  made  his  leave-taking  a  brief 
one,  in  order  to  elude  the  observation  of  the  authorities. 
There  were  eighteen  cars,  and  all  with  the  exception  of 
the  car  for  the  authorities  were  crowded  with  the  convicts. 
As  Nekhludof  passed  by  the  windows  of  the  cars  he 
could  see  what  was  going  on  inside,  and  hear  the  incessant 
clanking  of  chains  and  the  bustle  and  talking,  inter 
mingled  with  senseless  profanity;  but  nowhere  did  he 
hear,  as  he  had  expected,  any  mention  of  their  fellow- 
prisoners  who  had  died  on  the  way.  The  talk  was  chiefly 
about  their  sacks,  their  drinking  water,  and  the  choice  of 
seats. 

Looking  into  the  window  of  one  of  the  cars,  Nekhliidof 
saw  in  the  middle  passage  the  soldiers  of  the  convoy  who 
were  removing  the  manacles  from  the  prisoners.  The 
convicts  held  out  their  hands,  while  one  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  convoy  unlocked  and  removed  the  cuffs  and  another 
collected  them. 

Passing  through  car  after  car,  he  came  to  those  occu 
pied  by  the  women.  In  the  second  of  these  he  heard  a 
woman  groaning  monotonously:  "Oh,  my  Lord!  Oh, 
oh,  my  Lord!" 

Nekhludof  passed  by,  and  directed  by  the  convoy  he 
halted  beside  a  window  of  the  third  car  occupied  by 
women.  As  he  looked  in  he  could  feel  the  hot  air  satu 
rated  with  the  exhalations  of  perspiration  coming  from 
human  bodies  and  hear  the  shrill  sound  of  women's  voices. 
All  the  benches  were  occupied  by  flushed,  perspiring 
women,  dressed  in  their  prison  cloaks  and  sacks,  all  talk 
ing  in  high-pitched  voices.  Nekhliidof 's  face  at  the 
barred  window  attracted  their  attention.  Those  nearest 
ceased  talking.  Maslova  in  a  sack  and  with  a  kerchief 


RESURRECTION  153 

on  her  head  sat  at  the  opposite  window.     The  nearest  to 
him  was  the  white-skinned,  smiling  Feddsya. 

Recognizing  Nekhludof,  she  nudged  Maslova  and 
pointed  to  the  window. 

Maslova  rose  hastily,  threw  her  kerchief  over  her  black 
hair,  and  with  a  flushed,  animated,  and  perspiring  face 
approached  the  window  and  took  hold  of  the  bars. 

"Isn't  it  hot?"  she  said  joyfully,  smiling. 

"Did  you  get  the  things?" 

"I  did,  thank  you." 

"Do  you  want  anything  else?"  asked  Nekhludof,  feel 
ing  as  if  the  heated  air  from  the  car  came  from  a  fiery 
furnace. 

"Nothing,  thank  you." 

"It  would  be  nice  to  get  a  drink  of  water,"  said 
Feddsya. 

"Yes,  if  we  could  only  get  a  drink,"  repeated  Maslova. 

"Isn't  there  any  water?" 

"We  did  have  some,  but  it's  all  gone." 

"One  moment,"  said  Nekhlridof,  "I  will  ask  the  con 
voy.  We  shall  not  see  each  other  again  till  we  reach 
Nijni." 

"Are  you  going?"  said  Mdslova,  as  if  she  was  not 
aware  of  it,  looking  joyfully  at  Nekhludof. 

"I  am  going  by  the  next  train." 

Mdslova  said  no  more,  and  only  heaved  a  deep  sigh  a 
few  minutes  later. 

"Is  it  true,  sir,  that  twelve  convicts  were  killed  on  the 
march?"  asked  a  stern-looking  woman,  in  her  gruff 
peasant  voice. 

It  was  Korabldva. 

"I  did  not  hear  that  there  were  twelve.  I  saw  two," 
said  Nekhludof. 

"They  told  us  there  were  twelve.  Won't  they  be 
punished  for  that,  the  devils  ?" 

"  Did  any  of  the  women  become  ill  ?"  asked  Nekhlddof. 

"Women  are  more  hardy,"  laughingly  replied  a  short 


i54  RESURRECTION 

convict.  "One  woman  took  it  into  her  head  to  have  a 
baby.  Hear  her  groan,"  she  said,  pointing  to  the  next 
car,  from  whence  the  groans  proceeded. 

"Did  you  ask  if  I  needed  anything?"  said  Maslova. 
hardly  keeping  her  lips  from  a  glad  smile.  "Couldn't 
that  woman  be  left  here  ?  She  is  in  such  pain.  Couldn't 
you  speak  to  the  authorities?" 

"I  will  do  so." 

"And  couldn't  she  take  leave  of  her  husband,  Tardss  ?" 
she  added,  indicating  with  her  eyes  the  smiling  Fedosya. 
"He  is  coming  with  us." 

"No  talking  allowed,  mister,"  said  the  voice  of  the 
sergeant  of  the  convoy.  It  was  not  the  one  who  had 
allowed  Nekhludof  to  pass.  Nekhliidof  withdrew  and 
went  in  search  of  the  chief  to  ask  him  about  Tarass  and 
the  woman  who  was  about  to  give  birth  to  a  child,  but  he 
had  trouble  in  finding  him  and  also  in  getting  a  reply  from 
the  convoy  soldiers.  They  seemed  very  busy;  some  were 
removing  a  convict  from  one  place  to  another,  others  were 
running  about  to  buy  food  for  themselves  and  to  distribute 
their  own  things  in  the  cars;  still  others  were  waiting  upon 
a  lady  who  was  accompanying  her  husband,  an  officer  of 
the  convoy,  and  answered  Nekhludof's  questions  reluc 
tantly. 

Nekhludof  did  not  find  the  officer  of  the  convoy  until 
after  the  second  bell  had  already  been  rung. 

This  officer,  wiping  with  his  stubby  hand  the  mustache 
that  covered  his  mouth,  was  reprimanding  the  corporal. 

"What  is  it  you  want?"  he  asked  Nekhludof. 

"A  woman  is  being  delivered  in  the  car;  it  would  be 
well " 

"Let  her  be  delivered.  We'll  see  to  that  later,"  said 
the  officer,  and  passed  into  his  car,  briskly  swinging  his 
short  arms. 

At  that  moment  the  guard  went  by  with  a  whistle  in 
his  hand.  The  last  bell  rang;  sobs  and  wails  were  heard 
from  the  women's  car  and  the  people  on  the  platform. 


RESURRECTION  155 

Nekhludof  stood  beside  Tar£ss  and  watched  the  cars  as 
one  after  another  they  passed  along.  He  could  see  the 
shaven  heads  of  the  men  through  the  barred  windows. 
When  the  first  women's  car  went  by,  some  of  the  heads 
were  bare  and  some  were  covered.  Then  came  the 
second  car,  from  which  the  woman's  groans  were  still 
distinctly  audible.  Then  came  M£slova's  car.  She 
stood  with  a  group  of  other  women  at  the  window  and 
gazed  at  Nekhliidof  with  a  pathetic  smile. 

XXXIX. 

IT  would  be  two  hours  before  the  departure  of  the  next 
passenger  train,  which  Nekhludof  was  to  take.  At  first 
he  had  thought  of  going  to  see  his  sister  during  that 
interval,  but  the  impressions  of  the  morning  had  left  him 
in  such  an  agitated  and  dejected  frame  of  mind  that  when 
he  found  himself  sitting  on  the  sofa  in  the  first-class 
waiting-room,  he  grew  all  of  a  sudden  so  drowsy,  that  he 
turned  on  his  side,  and  propping  his  cheek  with  the  palm 
of  his  hand,  instantly  fell  asleep.  A  waiter  in  a  swallow 
tail  coat  with  a  sign  on  it  and  a  napkin  on  his  arm  aroused 
him. 

"Sir,  sir,  are  you  not  Prince  Nekhludof?  A  lady  is 
looking  for  you." 

Nekhludof  started  up,  rubbing  his  eyes,  and  remem 
bered  where  he  was  and  all  that  had  happened  that 
morning. 

The  procession  of  convicts,  the  corpses,  the  barred 
windows  of  the  cars,  and  the  women  in  them,  one  of  whom 
was  agonizing  over  the  birth  of  a  child,  and  another  who 
had  smiled  at  him  pathetically — all  this  passed  before  his 
mind.  But  the  scene  before  his  eyes  was  quite  different. 
He  saw  a  table  covered  with  bottles,  vases,  candelabra, 
and  plates,  and  nimble  waiters  around  it.  In  the  back 
ground,  in  front  of  a  buffet,  behind  vases  filled  with  fruit 
and  bottles  stood  the  barkeeper,  while  in  front  of  him 


156  RESURRECTION 

Nekhludof  saw  the  backs  of  the  travelers  who  were 
crowding  about  the  bar. 

As  Nekhliidof  changed  his  reclining  position  for  an 
upright  one  and  gradually  collected  his  thoughts,  he 
noticed  that  the  people  in  the  room  were  curiously  looking 
at  something  that  was  going  on  at  the  door.  He  looked 
that  way  and  saw  a  procession  of  men  carrying  a  lady  in 
a  sedan  chair,  a  lady  whose  head  was  wrapped  in  a  trans 
parent  veil.  The  man  in  front,  a  footman,  seemed 
familiar  to  Nekhludof.  The  one  in  the  rear,  a  door 
keeper,  with  braid  on  his  cap,  he  remembered  to  have 
seen  somewhere.  A  stylish  maid  with  crimps,  and  an 
apron,  was  carrying  a  bundle,  something  in  a  leather  case, 
and  sunshades.  Still  farther  behind  came  Prince  Kor- 
chagin  with  his  imposing  chest  and  apoplectic  neck, 
wearing  a  traveling  hat,  and  still  farther  in  the  rear, 
cousin  Misha,  Missy — as  she  was  called — and  the  long- 
necked  Osten,  with  his  prominent  Adam's  apple  and  ever 
cheerful  mien  —  a  diplomat  with  whom  Nekhludof  was 
acquainted.  As  he  walked  along  he  was  saying  some 
thing  of  importance,  though  in  a  joking  sort  of  way,  to 
the  smiling  Missy.  The  doctor  closed  the  procession, 
angrily  smoking  a  cigarette. 

The  Korchagins  were  moving  from  their  own  estate  to 
the  estate  of  the  Prince's  sister,  which  was  on  the  Nijni 
N6vgorod  railway. 

The  procession,  with  the  porters,  the  maid,  and  the 
doctor,  vanished  into  the  ladies'  waiting-room,  exciting 
the  respect  and  admiration  of  all  beholders.  The  old 
Prince,  seating  himself  at  a  table,  at  once  called  a  waiter 
and  ordered  food  and  drink.  Missy  and  Osten  also 
halted  in  the  dining-room  and  were  about  to  sit  down, 
when  they  saw  a  friend  near  the  door  and  at  once  walked 
up  to  her.  This  friend  was  Nekhludof 's  sister,  Natdlya 
Ivdnovna.  Natdlya  Ivanovna  accompanied  by  Agra- 
phe'na  Petrdvna  were  looking  about  on  entering.  They 
perceived  Missy  and  Nekhludof  almost  simultaneously. 


RESURRECTION  157 

She  greeted  Missy  first,  merely  nodding  to  her  brother, 
but  having  kissed  Missy  she  at  once  addressed  him. 

"So  I  have  found  you  at  last,  have  I  ?"  she  said. 

Nekhludof  rose,  greeted  Missy,  Misha,  and  Osten,  and 
stood  for  a  few  minutes  chatting  with  them.  Missy  told 
him  about  the  fire  in  their  country  house  which  had 
obliged  them  to  go  to  their  aunt.  Osten  improved  this 
chance  to  tell  a  funny  story  about  the  fire.  Without 
heeding  him,  Nekhludof  spoke  to  his  sister. 

"How  glad  I  am  that  you  came,"  he  said. 

"I  have  been  here  for  some  time,"  she  replied;  "I  came 
with  Agraphe'na  Petrdvna."  She  pointed  to  Agraphe'na 
Petrdvna,  who  in  a  waterproof  cloak  and  bonnet  bowed 
affably  to  Nekhludof  from  the  distance,  so  as  not  to  inter 
rupt  his  conversation.  "I  have  been  looking  for  you 
everywhere." 

"I  fell  asleep  on  this  sofa.  I  am  so  glad  you  came," 
repeated  Nekhludof.  "  I  began  a  letter  to  you." 

"A  letter?  What  could  you  find  to  write  to  me 
about?"  she  asked  with  a  frightened  look. 

Missy,  who  surrounded  by  her  cavaliers  noticed  that  a 
private  conversation  was  taking  place  between  brother  and 
sister,  withdrew,  while  Nekhludof  and  his  sister  seated 
themselves  on  a  velvet  sofa  by  the  window,  next  to  some 
traveler's  luggage,  a  band-box  and  a  plaid. 

"When  I  left  you  last  night  I  wanted  to  go  back  and 
ask  your  pardon,  but  did  not  know  how  he  would  take  it. 
I  was  too  hasty  when  I  spoke  to  your  husband  and  it  has 
troubled  me,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"  I  was  certain  that  you  did  not  mean  it,"  said  the  sister. 
"You  know  how  it  is,"  —  and  the  tears  came  to  her 
eyes  as  she  touched  his  hand.  These  words  could  not 
be  called  lucid,  but  he  understood  her  fully  and  was 
touched  by  their  inner  meaning.  Her  words  meant  that 
apart  from  the  love  for  her  husband  which  filled  her  heart, 
her  love  for  her  brother  meant  a  great  deal  to  her,  and  that 
every  misunderstanding  with  him  made  her  suffer. 


158  RESURRECTION 

"  I  am  very  grateful  to  you.  Ah,  what  I  have  seen  to 
day  !"  he  exclaimed,  suddenly  bringing  to  mind  the  second 
of  the  dead  convicts.  "Two  convicts  were  murdered." 

"Murdered,  how?" 

"  Murdered.  They  were  obliged  to  march  in  this  heat 
and  two  of  them  died  from  sunstroke." 

"Impossible!     When?     To-day?     Now?" 

"Yes,  now,  and  I  saw  their  corpses." 

"But  why  were  they  murdered  ?  Who  murdered  them  ?" 
asked  Natasha. 

"Those  who  bade  them  march  against  their  will,"  said 
Nekhludof  irritably,  feeling  that  she  was  looking  at  the 
matter  through  her  husband's  eyes. 

"  Oh,  Lord!"  exclaimed  Agraphena  Petrdvna,  who  had 
now  approached  them. 

"  We  haven't  the  slightest  idea  of  what  is  done  to  these 
unfortunate  beings,  and  we  ought  to  know  it,"  added 
Nekhludof,  looking  at  the  old  Prince,  who,  with  a  napkin 
under  his  chin,  was  seated  at  a  table  with  a  bottle  of  cor 
dial  before  him  and  had  just  looked  round  at  Nekhludof. 

"Nekhludof!"  he  cried,  "don't  you  want  to  refresh 
yourself  before  starting?  It's  an  excellent  thing  for  a 
journey!" 

Nekhludof  declined  and  turned  away. 

"How  can  you  help  it  ?"  asked  Natasha. 

"  I  shall  do  what  I  can.  I  don't  know  what,  but  I  feel 
that  I  must  do  something,  and  what  I  am  able  to  do,  I 
shall  do." 

"Yes,  yes,  I  quite  understand  you.  But  tell  me,"  she 
said,  glancing  at  the  Korchagins,  "have  you  quite  done 
with  these  people  ?" 

"  Quite,  and  I  believe  we  parted  without  regret  on  either 
side." 

"I  am  sorry.  I  am  sorry  for  her.  I  like  her.  But 
never  mind.  Taking  all  this  for  granted,  why  do  you 
want  to  handicap  yourself  ?  Why  are  you  leaving  us  ?" 
she  asked  timidly. 


RESURRECTION  159 

"I  am  going  because  I  must,"  he  replied  seriously  and 
dryly,  by  way  of  putting  an  end  to  the  conversation.  But 
at  the  same  moment  he  felt  ashamed  of  his  indifference 
towards  his  sister.  "  Why  shouldn't  I  tell  her  everything 
I  think?"  he  said  to  himself;  "and  Agraphdna  Petr6vna 
might  as  well  hear  it,  too,"  he  thought,  glancing  at  the  old 
servant.  The  presence  of  Agraphena  Petr6vna  proved  an 
important  factor  in  the  case;  it  made  him  more  than  ever 
determined  to  repeat  his  decision  to  his  sister. 

"  Are  you  speaking  of  my  offer  to  marry  Katusha  ?  Let 
me  tell  you  that  she  has  emphatically  refused  to  accept 
my  offer,"  he  said,  and  his  voice  trembled,  as  it  always  did 
when  he  spoke  of  it.  "  She  will  not  accept  my  sacrifice, 
but  chooses  to  sacrifice  herself,  which  considering  her 
present  condition  means  a  great  deal.  To  me  this  indicates 
an  unsettled  state  of  mind,  as  it  may  prove  to  be  but  a 
passing  impulse.  I  am  going  to  follow  her  in  order  to  be 
at  hand  to  alleviate  the  hardships  of  her  position  as  far  as 
I  am  able." 

Natalya  Ivanovna  made  no  reply.  Agraphena  Pe- 
tr6vna,  shaking  her  head,  looked  at  her  with  a  questioning 
look.  At  that  moment  the  procession  had  once  more 
started  from  the  ladies'  waiting-room.  The  same  hand 
some  footman,  Philip,  and  the  door-keeper  were  carrying 
the  Princess.  She  bade  them  stop  and  called  Nekhludof 
to  her  side.  Extending  her  white,  gem-bedecked  hand 
as  if  in  terror  lest  he  grasp  it  too  firmly,  she  greeted 
him  in  a  whining  tone  of  voice. 

" Epouvantabkl"  (She  meant  the  heat.)  "I  can't 
stand  this!  Ce  dimat  me  tue." 

And  having  talked  over  the  horrors  of  the  Russian  cli 
mate  and  invited  Nekhludof  to  visit  them,  she  gave  the 
men  a  signal  to  go  on. 

"Be  sure  and  come,"  she  added,  turning  her  long  face 
towards  Nekhludof  as  they  were  bearing  her  away. 

Nekhludof  went  out  on  the  platform.  The  procession 
with  the  Princess  turned  to  the  iight  towards  the  first- 


160  RESURRECTION 

class  waiting-rooms.  Then  Nekhludof  and  Tar&ss  with 
his  sack,  and  the  porter  with  the  luggage,  turned  towards 
the  left. 

"This  is  my  companion,"  said  Nekhludof  to  his  sister, 
indicating  Tarass,  whose  story  he  had  already  related  to 
her. 

"Is  it  possible  that  you  are  going  to  travel  third-class  ?" 
said  Nat&sha,  when  Nekhludof  paused  before  a  third- 
class  car  which  Tarass  and  the  porter  with  the  luggage 
had  already  entered. 

"Yes,  I  shall  be  more  comfortable  with  Tara"ss,"  he 
said.  "Then,  one  thing  more,"  he  added.  "I  have  not 
yet  given  the  land  in  Kuzminskoe  to  the  peasants,  so  that 
in  the  event  of  my  death  your  children  will  be  the  heirs." 

"Don't,  Dmitri,"  said  Natasha. 

"  But  even  if  I  should  give  the  land  away,  all  I  wish  to 
say  is  that  the  remainder  of  the  property  would  be  theirs. 
It  is  not  likely  that  I  shall  marry,  and  even  if  I  do,  there 
will  be  no  children,  —  so  that " 

"Please  don't  say  that,  Dmitri,"  said  Natasha,  and  yet 
Nekhludof  perceived  that  it  gratified  her  to  hear  what  he 
said. 

Before  a  car  for  first-class  passengers  at  the  head  of  the 
train,  a  small  group  of  people  was  gathered  watching  a 
compartment  into  which  Princess  Korchagin  had  been 
carried.  Most  of  the  passengers  were  already  seated. 
The  belated  ones,  hurrying,  clattered  along  the  boards  of 
the  platform;  the  guards  slammed  the  doors,  urging  the 
passengers  to  take  their  places,  and  warned  those  who 
came  to  see  them  off,  that  it  was  time  to  depart. 

Nekhludof  entered  the  ill-smelling,  overheated  car,  but 
stepped  out  on  the  platform  the  next  minute. 

Nat£lya  Ivanovna  in  her  fashionable  bonnet  and  wrap 
stood  opposite  the  car  beside  Agraphe'na  Petr6vna  and 
was  apparently  making  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  think 
of  something  to  say.  She  could  not  say,  "Ecrivez,"  be 
cause  she  and  her  brother  had  many  times  laughed  about 


RESURRECTION  161 

that  word  so  commonly  repeated  to  those  who  are  starting 
on  a  journey.  The  brief  talk  about  money  matters  and 
the  legacy  had  at  once  put  an  end  to  the  tender  fraternal 
feelings  that  had  been  re-established  between  them,  and 
they  now  felt  themselves  estranged.  So  that  Natalya 
Ivanovna  was  glad  when  the  train  started  and  she  had 
only  to  nod  her  head  and  repeat  in  a  kind,  sad  voice, 
"Good-by,  Dmitri,  good-by." 

But  no  sooner  was  the  car  out  of  sight  than  she  began 
to  arrange  in  her  own  mind  the  better  way  of  giving  her 
husband  a  general  idea  of  this  conversation  with  her 
brother,  and  the  expression  of  her  face  grew  serious  and 
anxious. 

Nekhludof,  also,  although  he  had  the  kindest  feelings 
for  his  sister  and  concealed  nothing  from  her,  now  felt  so 
uncomfortable  in  her  presence  that  he  was  relieved  to  es 
cape.  He  could  not  help  feeling  that  the  Natasha  who- 
was  once  so  dear  to  him,  no  longer  existed;  that  the 
woman  before  him  was  the  slave  of  her  husband,  that 
hairy  and  swarthy  stranger,  who  was  actually  repulsive 
to  him.  When  he  saw  her  face  brighten  with  peculiar 
animation  while  he  was  speaking  of  matters  that  were  of 
interest  to  him — her  husband — the  land  question  and 
the  inheritance,  for  example,  he  felt  convinced  of  it,  and 
that  grieved  him. 


XL. 


THE  heat  in  the  large  third-class  car,  that  had  been  ex 
posed  to  the  rays  of  the  sun  all  day  and  was  now  crowded, 
was  so  oppressive  that  Nekhludof  did  not  enter  it,  but  re 
mained  outside  on  the  platform.  Even  here,  however,  no 
air  was  stirring,  and  Nekhludof  breathed  freely  only  when 
the  cars  had  passed  the  houses  and  he  began  to  feel  the 
breeze.  "  Yes,  they  were  murdered,"  and  he  repeated  to 
himself  the  words  he  had  used  when  talking  with  his  sister, 

VOL.   II. — II 


162  RESURRECTION 

And  among  the  various  impressions  of  the  day  his  im 
agination  pictured  the  handsome  face  of  the  second  con 
vict  who  had  died,  —  its  smiling  lips,  its  severe  brow,  and 
the  small,  well-shaped  ear  on  the  side  of  the  shaven  bluish 
skull.  And  the  most  appalling  part  of  all  this  was  that 
the  man  was  murdered,  and  no  one  knew  who  did  the 
deed.  But  there  could  be  no  question  about  the  fact,  the 
man  had  undoubtedly  been  killed.  He  was  led  out  with 
the  others,  by  the  order  of  Maslennikof.  Mdslennikof 
had  probably  given  the  usual  order,  had  signed  his  name 
with  its  stupid  flourish  to  a  formal  paper  with  a  printed 
heading,  and  of  course  will  not  consider  himself  respon 
sible.  Still  less  blame  could  be  attributed  to  the  careful 
prison  doctor  who  examined  the  convicts.  He  did  his 
duty  punctiliously,  —  he  separated  the  feeble  ones  and 
could  not  be  expected  to  know  that  the  throng  would  be 
led  out  so  late  in  the  day  or  that  its  ranks  would  be  so 
crowded,  neither  could  he  have  foreseen  the  terrific  heat. 
The  Inspector  ?  .  .  .  but  he  had  only  obeyed  his  order 
to  send  off  a  certain  number  of  exiles  and  convicts  of  both 
sexes  on  a  given  day.  Neither  could  the  officer  of  the 
convoy  be  blamed,  for  his  duty  consisted  in  receiving  a 
certain  number  and  in  sending  off  a  certain  number.  He 
had  led  them  according  to  the  usual  regulations  and  surely 
could  not  have  expected  that  such  robust-looking  men 
as  the  two  whom  Nekhludof  had  seen,  would  have  suc 
cumbed  and  died  in  consequence  of  the  heat  and  fatigue. 
No  one  was  to  blame,  and  yet  the  men  were  dead,  killed 
by  those  who  could  not  really  be  blamed  for  their  death. 
"And  all  this,"  said  Nekhludof  to  himself,  "comes  from 
the  fact  that  all  these  governors,  inspectors,  police  officers, 
and  Dolicemen  are  convinced  that  there  are  conditions  in 
life  when  a  man  owes  no  duty  to  his  fellow-man.  Every 
one  of  these  men,  Maslennikof,  the  Inspector,  the  soldiers 
of  the  convoy,  if  they  had  not  been  governors,  inspectors, 
and  officers,  would  have  hesitated  twenty  times  before 
sending  men  and  women  off  in  such  a  crowded  throng  and 


RESURRECTION  163 

in  such  heat;  they  would  have  paused  twenty  times  on  the 
way  if  they  had  seen  that  a  man  was  growing  faint,  or 
was  gasping  for  breath;  they  would  have  separated  him 
from  the  others,  would  have  allowed  him  to  rest  in  the 
shade,  would  have  given  him  water,  and  then  if  anything 
had  happened,  they  would  have  pitied  him.  But  they  did 
nothing  of  the  sort;  they  even  prevented  others  from  giv 
ing  aid,  only  because  they  took  no  account  whatever  of  the 
men  before  them,  or  of  their  own  responsibilities  towards 
them.  They  magnified  their  office  and  its  requirements 
to  the  disadvantage  of  their  duties  to  mankind.  This  is 
the  sum  and  substance  of  the  matter,"  thought  Nekhlu- 
dof.  "If  a  man  were  to  admit  that  there  could  be  any 
thing  of  more  importance  than  the  love  one  owes  his 
fellow-man,  even  for  a  single  hour,  or  in  any  single  in 
stance,  he  might  commit  any  conceivable  crime  that  a 
man  could  commit  and  yet  consider  himself  innocent." 

Nekhludof  was  so  absorbed  in  his  thoughts  that  he  had 
not  noticed  the  change  in  the  weather.  The  sun  was  hid 
den  behind  a  low-hanging  ragged  cloud,  and  a  compact 
light-gray  cloud  was  advancing  from  the  west.  He  could 
see  the  rain  far  away  in  the  distance  across  the  fields  and 
the  forest,  coming  in  slanting,  driving  streaks.  The  air 
was  saturated  with  moisture.  Now  and  then  the  cloud 
was  rent  with  a  flash  of  lightning,  and  the  rattling  of  the 
train  intermingled  more  and  more  frequently  with  the 
crashes  of  thunder.  The  cloud  drew  nearer  and  nearer 
and  the  slanting  rain-drops,  driven  by  the  wind,  fell  on  the 
platform  of  the  car  and  on  Nekhludof's  coat.  He  crossed 
to  the  opposite  side,  and  inhaling  the  fresh  moisture  and 
the  fragrance  of  growing  wheat  rising  from  the  parched 
fields,  he  gazed  at  the  fleeting  gardens,  groves,  and  fields 
of  ripening  yellow  rye,  at  the  green  strips  of  oats  and  the 
black  furrows  between  the  rows  of  dark  green  potatoes  in 
bloom.  The  fields  looked  as  if  they  had  been  varnished. 
As  all  green  things  were  more  vivid  in  color,  so  were  the 
yellows  and  the  blacks. 


164  RESURRECTION 

"More,  more!"  cried  Nekhludof,  rejoicing  at  the  sight 
of  the  reviving  fields,  the  flower  and  the  kitchen  gardens. 

But  the  violent  rain  did  not  last  long.  The  cloud  had 
partly  spent  itself  and  partly  passed  over,  and  only  the 
last  fine  drops  were  falling  gently  on  the  moistened 
ground.  The  sun  reappeared,  everything  glistened,  and 
the  low  curve  of  a  brilliant  rainbow,  with  a  conspicuous 
violet  stripe,  broken  at  one  end,  illumined  the  eastern 
horizon. 

"  What  was  I  thinking  about  ?"  Nekhludof  asked  him 
self  when  all  these  changes  in  nature  had  passed  and  the 
train  was  speeding  through  a  cutting  between  two  high 
banks.  "Oh,  yes,  I  remember,  I  was  thinking  that  all 
these  men,  the  Inspector,  the  convoy,  and  the  others,  are 
by  nature  kind  and  gentle.  Being  officials  has  made  them 
cruel." 

He  remembered  Maslennikof's  indifference  when  he 
told  him  what  was  going  on  in  the  prison,  the  Inspector's 
severity,  the  harshness  of  the  officer  of  the  convoy  when 
he  refused  places  on  the  carts  to  those  who  asked  for  them, 
and  paid  no  heed  to  the  woman  on  the  train  who  was  in 
child-labor.  Evidently  the  reason  why  all  these  people 
were  so  invulnerable,  so  impenetrable  to  feelings  of  com 
passion,  was  simply  due  to  the  fact  that  they  were  officials. 
As  officials  they  were  no  more  receptive  of  the  sensations 
of  compassion  than  this  paved  earth  is  of  the  rain  from 
heaven!  he  thought,  as  he  gazed  at  the  embankment  of 
the  cut, — paved  with  multi-colored  stones,  down  which 
the  rainwater  streamed,  instead  of  soaking  into  the  earth. 
"It  may  be  necessary  to  pave  the  cut,  but  it  is  a  melan 
choly  thought  that  so  much  soil  must  be  deprived  of  its  pro 
ductiveness,  for  it  might  be  yielding  grain,  grass,  shrubs, 
and  trees,  like  those  that  grow  above  it.  And  it  is  the 
same  among  men,"  he  thought;  "it  is  possible  that  the 
governors,  inspectors,  policemen  may  be  needed,  but  it  is 
terrible  to  see  men  who  have  lost  the  attribute  that  differ 
entiates  them  from  the  beasts — love  and  pity  for  each  other. 


RESURRECTION  165 

"The  whole  matter  may  be  summed  up  thus,"  he 
went  on:  "these  men  accept  as  a  law  that  which  is  not  a 
law,  and  do  not  accept  that  which  is  the  eternal,  immuta 
ble  and  unchangeable  law  that  God  Himself  has  written 
in  the  hearts  of  men.  That  is  the  reason  why  I  am  so 
unhappy  in  their  presence,"  he  thought.  "I  am  simply 
afraid  of  them.  And  they  are  indeed  terrible.  More 
terrible  than  brigands.  After  all  a  brigand  might  be 
susceptible  to  pity,  but  these  men  are  incapable  of  it. 
They  are  insured  against  pity,  as  these  stones  are  against 
vegetation,  and  that's  what  makes  them  so  terrible.  Men 
call  Pugatchdf  and  Razin  terrible.  But  these  men  are  a 
thousand  times  more  dreadful,"  he  went  on  thinking. 
"If  a  psychological  problem  were  to  be  propounded: 
what  can  be  done  to  make  the  men  of  the  present — • 
Christians,  humanitarians,  or  simply  kind-hearted  men 
—  insensible  to  the  crimes  they  are  committing,  there 
could  be  but  one  solution,  namely,  make  them  all  gov 
ernors,  inspectors,  officers,  policemen,  etc.,  which  means, 
in  the  first  place,  that  they  must  be  convinced  of  the  ex 
istence  of  a  business  called  '  Government  Service,'  which 
allows  men  to  be  treated  like  immaterial  objects,  thereby 
excluding  all  fraternal  relationship  with  them,  and  in  the 
second  place  that  the  members  of  this  Government  Ser 
vice  should  be  united  in  such  a  way  that  the  responsibility 
for  their  dealings  with  men  could  never  fall  on  any  indi 
vidual  member.  Otherwise  it  would  be  simply  out  of  the 
question  for  human  beings  to  countenance  in  these  days 
such  terrible  deeds  as  those,  for  example,  that  I  have 
witnessed  to-day.  The  fact  is,  that  men  think  that  their 
fellow-beings  may  be  treated  without  love,  but  no  such 
conditions  exist.  Immaterial  objects  may  be  dealt  with 
in  that  fashion;  one  may  chop  trees,  make  bricks,  and 
hammer  iron  without  love.  But  human  beings  cannot  be 
treated  without  love, — just  as  bees  cannot  be  handled 
without  care.  Such  is  the  nature  of  the  bee.  If  one 
handles  a  bee  without  care,  he  will  iniure  both  the  bee 


i66  RESURRECTION 

and  himself.  It  is  just  the  same  with  men.  And  this 
cannot  be  otherwise,  because  mutual  love  is  the  fundamen 
tal  law  of  human  life.  It  is  true  that  a  man  cannot  com 
pel  himself  to  love  as  he  can  compel  himself  to  work,  but 
that  does  not  imply  that  men  may  be  treated  without  love, 
especially  if  something  is  required  from  them.  If  one 
feels  no  love  for  men,  let  him  be  quiet  about  it,"  thought 
Nekhludof,  now  talking  to  himself,  "let  him  busy  himself 
with  objects,  or  even  with  himself  alone,  with  anything  he 
pleases, — only  not  with  men.  As  it  is  only  possible  to  eat 
without  injury  when  one  is  hungry,  so  men  can  be  han 
dled  to  advantage  only  when  one  loves  them.  But  if  a 
man  just  allows  himself  to  deal  with  men  without  love, 
as  for  instance  you  yourself  dealt  yesterday  with  your 
brother-in-law,  there  are  no  limits  to  the  suffering  and 
cruelty  which  you  might  be  capable  of  inflicting  on  others, 
an  example  of  which  I  witnessed  to-day;  nor  limits  to  the 
suffering  you  would  bring  to  yourself,  and  this  also  have 
I  experienced  in  my  own  life.  Yes,  that  is  true,"  thought 
Nekhludof.  "Everything  is  all  right  now,"  he  repeated 
to  himself,  experiencing  the  double  delight  of  the  refresh 
ing  coolness  after  intense  heat  and  the  assurance  of  having 
come  to  a  clear  understanding  of  a  question  that  had  long 
interested  him. 

XLI. 

THE  car  in  which  Nekhiiidof  had  a  seat  was  only  half 
filled.  Here  were  servants,  mechanics,  artisans,  butchers, 
Jews,  clerks,  women  who  were  wives  of  mechanics,  two 
ladies,  —  one  young,  the  other  elderly,  with  a  bracelet  on 
her  bare  arm,  also  a  glum-looking  gentleman  with  a 
cockade  on  his  black  hat. 

All  these  people  were  sitting  quietly  after  the  first  bustle 
was  over.  Some  were  cracking  and  eating  sunflower  seeds, 
some  smoking  cigarettes,  others  had  engaged  in  lively 
conversation  with  their  neighbors. 


RESURRECTION  167 

Tardss  sat  with  a  happy  countenance  on  the  right  hand 
of  the  passageway,  keeping  a  seat  for  Nekhludof,  mean 
while  carrying  on  an  animated  conversation  with  a  man 
in  a  sleeveless  cloth  coat  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  car,  — 
a  gardener  on  his  way  to  a  new  situation,  as  Nekhludof 
found  out  later.  Before  reaching  Tarass,  Nekhludof 
stopped  in  the  passageway,  beside  a  venerable-looking  old 
man,  with  a  white  beard,  also  wearing  a  sleeveless  coat, 
who  was  conversing  with  a  young  woman  in  peasant  dress. 
Beside  her  sat  a  seven-year-old  girl  in  a  new  sarafdn.1 
Her  light  hair  was  braided;  her  legs  were  too  short  to 
reach  the  floor. 

Looking  up,  the  old  man  pushed  away  the  skirt  of  his 
coat  from  the  varnished  bench  on  which  he  was  sitting  to 
make  room  for  Nekhludof,  saying  in  a  pleasant  voice: 

"Will  you  take  this  seat,  please?'' 

Nekhludof  thanked  him  and  seated  himself  in  the 
offered  place,  whereupon  the  woman  resumed  her  inter 
rupted  story. 

"Yes,  I  was  there  all  Carnival  week,  the  Lord  be 
praised,  and  God  willing,  I  mean  to  go  again  at  Christmas 
time,"  she  said. 

"That's  right,"  said  the  old  man,  with  a  glance  at 
Nekhludof.  "It  is  well  for  you  to  visit  him  from  time  to 
time.  A  young  man  living  in  town  may  easily  go  astray." 

"No,  grandpa;  mine  is  riot  that  kind  of  a  man.  He 
never  thinks  of  evil.  He  is  like  a  young  girl  and  he  sends 
me  every  copeck  of  his  money.  You  cannot  imagine  how 
pleased  he  was  to  see  the  little  girl,"  said  the  woman, 
smiling. 

The  little  girl,  who  sat  cracking  and  spitting  out  the 
seeds,  looked  up  with  calm,  intelligent  eyes  at  the  old 
man  and  NekhMdof,  as  though  confirming  her  mother's 
words. 

"So  much  the  better  if  he  behaves  himself,"  said  the 
old  man.  "And  what  do  you  say  about  that  sort  of 

1  National  peasant's  costume.  — TR. 


1 68  RESURRECTION 

business  ?"  he  said,  pointing  to  a  married  couple,  evidently 
factory  hands,  who  were  sitting  on  the  other  side  of  the 
aisle.  The  husband  with  his  head  thrown  back  held  a 
bottle  of  vddka  at  his  lips,  swallowing  greedily,  while  the 
wife,  holding  a  bag  from  which  the  bottle  had  been  ex 
tracted,  was  gazing  at  her  husband. 

"No,  mine  neither  drinks  nor  smokes,"  said  the  wo 
man  who  was  talking  to  the  old  man,  improving  this  op 
portunity  to  praise  her  husband  again.  "  There  are  not 
many  men  like  mine  in  this  world,  grandpa.  That's  the 
kind  of  a  man  he  is,"  she  said,  addressing  Nekhludof. 

"  So  much  the  better,"  repeated  the  old  man,  still  gazing 
at  the  factory  hand,  who,  having  had  his  drink,  now 
offered  the  bottle  to  his  wife.  She  took  it  laughing  and 
shaking  her  head,  but  she,  too,  put  her  lips  to  it.  When 
he  noticed  that  the  old  man  and  Nekhludof  were  looking 
at  them,  the  factory  workman  spoke  to  them. 

"Well,  sir?  Are  you  looking  at  us,  because  we  are 
having  a  drink  ?  You  see  when  we  are  at  work,  no  one 
ever  watches  us;  when  we  are  drinking,  everybody  sees  us. 
I  have  earned  the  money  and  so  I  have  the  right  to  drink, 
and  I  treat  my  wife.  That's  the  long  and  short  of  it!" 

"Yes,  yes,  I  see,"  said  Nekhludof,  not  knowing  just 
what  answer  to  make. 

"Isn't  that  so,  sir?  My  wife  has  good  principles.  I 
love  my  wife  because  she  can  sympathize  with  me. 
Don't  I  speak  the  truth,  Mavra  ?" 

"There,  take  it.  I  have  had  enough,"  said  the  wife, 
giving  back  the  bottle,  "and  don't  chatter  like  a  fool," 
she  added. 

"That's  the  way  she  is,"  said  the  workman.  "She  is 
all  right  most  of  the  time;  it's  only  now  and  then  that  she 
squeaks  like  a  wheel  that  needs  greasing.  Isn't  that  so, 
Mavra?" 

Mavra  laughed  and  waved  her  hand  in  a  tipsy  way. 

"There  you  go  it " 

"Yes,  she's  all  right  for  a  time,  but  let  her  get  her  tail 


RESURRECTION  169 

over  the  reins,  and  she  will  let  you  know  what's  what. 
.  .  .  That's  sure.  Excuse  me,  mister.  I  am  half 
seas  over  myself.  .  .  .  Well,  what  shall  we  do  now?" 
he  asked,  beginning  to  get  ready  for  sleep  by  putting  his 
head  in  the  lap  of  his  smiling  wife. 

Nekhludof  remained  a  little  while  beside  the  old  man, 
who  told  him  something  about  himself ,  — that  he  was  a 
chimney  builder,  fifty-three  years  old,  that  he  had  built 
many  a  chimney  in  his  day  and  would  like  to  take  a  rest 
but  never  found  a  chance.  He  was  on  his  way  from  the 
city  where  he  had  started  his  children  in  business  and  was 
now  going  to  his  village  to  visit  his  kinsfolk.  After  listen 
ing  to  the  old  man's  story,  Nekhludof  rose  and  took  the 
seat  that  Tarass  had  saved  for  him. 

"  Sit  down,  sir.  We  will  put  the  bag  here,"  said  the 
gardener  who  sat  facing  Tarass,  looking  up  pleasantly 
into  Nekhludof's  face. 

"We  are  in  close  quarters,  but  we  are  all  friends,"  said 
the  smiling  Tarass  in  his  singsong  voice,  and  with  his 
strong  hands  he  lifted  his  two-poud  sack  and  put  it  beside 
the  window.  "There's  plenty  of  room  and  there's  no 
harm  in  standing  or  even  in  lying  under  the  seat.  That's 
a  comfortable  place,  I  can  tell  you.  We  won't  quarrel 
about  that!"  he  said,  beaming  good-naturedly.  Tarass 
used  to  say  of  himself  that  unless  he  had  been  drinking, 
he  never  talked,  but  liquor  always  helped  him  to  find 
plenty  of  words.  And  it  was  a  fact  that  when  Tardss  was 
sober  he  was  generally  silent,  but  whenever  he  had  been 
drinking,  which  did  not  happen  very  often  and  only  on 
special  occasions,  he  became  very  talkative.  He  spoke 
well  and  a  great  deal,  quite  simply,  truthfully,  and  kindly, 
for  his  heart  shone  in  his  gentle  blue  eyes,  while  a  friendly 
smile  hovered  on  his  lips. 

He  was  like  this  to-day.  Nekhludof's  arrival  silenced 
him  for  only  a  few  moments.  After  arranging  his  sack 
he  seated  himself  in  his  old  place,  folded  his  strong  labor- 
worn  hands  on  his  knees,  and  looking  straight  into  the 


170  RESURRECTION 

eyes  of  the  gardener  he  went  on  with  his  story.  He  was 
telling  his  new  friend  about  his  wife  who  was  being  exiled 
to  Siberia,  and  why  he  was  going  with  her. 

Nekhludof  had  never  heard  the  details  of  this  affair,  and 
so  he  listened  with  interest.  The  story  of  the  poisoning 
had  already  been  told  and  the  family  had  already  learned 
what  Feddsya  had  done. 

"I  am  telling  about  my  troubles,"  said  Tarass,  turning 
to  Nekhludof  with  absolute  confidence  in  his  sympathy. 
"This  man  here  is  so  friendly  that  I  am  telling  him  my 
story." 

"  Go  on,  go  on,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"  So,  my  dear  fellow,  that's  how  the  thing  came  to  light. 
My  mother  took  that  flat  cake,  the  same  one  I  told  you 
about,  you  know.  'I  am  going  to  the  police  sergeant,' 
says  she.  'Wait,  old  woman,'  said  my  father,  who  is  very 
deliberate.  'She  is  a  very  young  woman,  almost  a  child, 
she  did  not  realize  what  she  was  doing;  you  ought  to  pity 
her,  and  she  may  repent !'  But  no,  sir,  she  wouldn't  listen. 
'She  will  poison  us  like  cockroaches  if  we  keep  her,'  says 
she.  So  she  went  to  the  police  sergeant,  and  he  came  in 
hot  haste  and  called  the  witnesses." 

"And  what  did  you  do?"  asked  the  gardener. 

"  I  ?  I  was  down  with  a  pain  in  my  stomach,  vomiting. 
My  stomach  was  turning  inside  out;  I  couldn't  even  speak. 
So  my  father  harnessed  up  the  horse,  put  Fedosya  into  the 
cart,  and  carried  her  to  our  police  station;  and  from  there 
he  drove  to  the  magistrate.  And  she,  let  me  tell  you,  told 
the  Prosecutor  the  whole  story,  just  as  she  had  told  it  at 
home, — where  she  got  the  arsenic  and  how  she  made  the 
cakes.  'What  made  you  do  it  ?'  says  he.  'I  did  it  because 
I  am  sick  of  him,' — she  meant  me"  said  Tarass,  with  a 
smile.  "  So  that's  the  way  she  confessed  the  whole  busi 
ness.  Of  course  she  was  put  in  jail  at  once.  My  father 
came  home  alone.  It  was  just  about  harvest  time  and 
we  had  only  one  woman  to  help  us,  my  mother,  and  she  was 
not  good  for  much.  We  thought  we  might  perhaps  get 


RESURRECTION  171 

Fed<5sya  back  if  we  became  responsible  for  her.  So  my 
father  went  to  see  some  of  the  magistrates,  but  nothing 
came  of  it.  In  fact  he  went  to  five  of  them  and  was 
about  to  give  it  up  when  he  stumbled  on  a  clerk,  a  shrewd 
fellow,  I  can  tell  you.  'Give  me  a  fiver,'  says  he,  'and  I 
will  get  her  out.'  They  compromised  on  three  roubles. 
So  I  had  to  pawn  the  linen  cloth  she  had  woven  herself 
and  gave  him  the  proceeds.  And  when  he  had  written  the 
document,"  drawled  Tarass,  as  though  he  were  speaking 
of  a  shot  being  fired,  "  it  turned  out  all  right.  I  went  to 
town  to  fetch  her  myself.  When  I  arrived  I  put  up  my 
mare,  took  the  document,  and  went  to  the  jail.  'What 
is  it  you  want  ?'  'So  and  so,'  says  I.  '  My  wife  is  impris 
oned  here.'  'And  have  you  a  paper?'  So  I  gave  it  to 
him.  'Wait,'  said  he,  looking  it  over.  So  I  took  a  seat 
on  a  bench  there.  It  was  past  the  noon  hour.  The 
head  man  comes  out  and  says,  'Are  you  Vargush6f  ?'  'I 
am  he.'  'Well,  you  may  take  her,'  says  he.  And  so  they 
opened  the  gates  and  brought  her  out  in  her  own  clothes, 
which  was  the  proper  thing.  'Well,  come  on,'  said  I. 
'Did  you  come  on  foot  ?'  'No,  I  drove.'  So  we  went  to 
the  inn,  I  paid  for  putting  up  the  horse,  then  I  harnessed 
her  and  made  a  seat  for  Feddsya  with  the  hay  that  was 
left.  She  sat  down,  covered  herself  with  a  shawl  and  we 
started.  She  never  spoke  a  word  and  I  kept  still.  As 
we  drew  near  the  house,  she  asked,  'Is  mother  living?' 
'Yes,'  I  said.  'And  father  ?'  'He  is  alive  too.'  'Forgive 
me,  Tardss,  for  my  folly,  I  didn't  know  what  I  was  doing/ 
'Don't  talk  so  much,'  said  I.  'Who  talks  much  says  little; 
I  have  forgiven  you  long  ago.'  And  that's  all  that  was 
said.  When  we  came  home  she  threw  herself  on  her 
knees  at  my  mother's  feet.  'God  will  forgive  you,' 
says  mother.  And  father  greeted  her,  saying,  'What's 
the  use  of  going  over  the  old  story?  Try  to  be  good. 
We  are  very  busy  now  with  the  field  work.  Back  of 
Skor6dnoe  on  the  manured  lot  our  rye  is  so  thick  that 
it's  all  tangled;  you  couldn't  straighten  it  with  an  iron 


1 72  RESURRECTION 

crowbar,  so  to-morrow  you  and  Tara"ss  would  better  reap 
it.'  And  from  that  time  forward  she  started  to  work  with 
a  will.  She  was  a  sight  to  behold.  At  that  time  we  also 
rented  three  more  dessiatins,  and  God  sent  us  a  wonder 
ful  crop  of  oats  and  rye.  Sometimes  I  mowed  it  while  she 
bound  the  sheaves,  and  sometimes  we  would  both  of  us 
reap.  I  am  a  good  worker  when  I  take  hold  of  a  job; 
but  she  goes  ahead  of  me  whatever  she  does.  She  is 
young,  agile,  and  in  the  prime  of  life.  And  so  ambitious 
to  work, — it's  hard  to  keep  her  back.  When  we  came 
home  at  night,  her  fingers  would  be  swollen,  her  hands 
aching,  and  yet  she  would  run  out  into  the  barn  before 
supper  to  prepare  sheaf-binders  for  the  next  day.  A 
different  woman,  I  can  tell  you!" 

"And  did  she  treat  you  any  better?"  asked  the 
gardener. 

"I  should  say  so!  She  became  as  loving  as  a  turtle 
dove.  Whatever  I  wanted  she  always  knew.  Mother, 
who  is  rather  cranky,  once  said:  'Our  old  Feddsya  has 
been  spirited  away.  This  seems  to  be  a  different  woman. 
Once  when  we  were  driving  home  bringing  the  sheaves, 
and  sitting  on  the  front  of  the  cart  side  by  side,  I  said  to  her, 
'Tell  me,  Feddsya,  how  you  came  to  think  of  doing  that  ?' 
'How  ?'  she  says.  'I  didn't  want  to  live  with  you.  I  pre 
ferred  to  die.'  'And  now?'  'Now/  says  she,  'you  are 
in  my  heart. '  "  Tarass  paused  and  with  a  joyful  smile 
nodded  repeatedly.  "When  our  work  was  finished,  I 
started  to  carry  the  flax  to  be  moistened  and  when  I  got 
home,"  he  paused  a  moment,  "there  was  the  summons  for 
her  appearance  to  come  in  Court, — and  we  had  forgotten 
all  about  what  she  had  done." 

"It's  all  the  work  of  the  Evil  One,"  said  the  gardener. 
"  It  never  would  occur  to  any  man  to  dream  of  harming 
a  human  soul.  I  used  to  know  a  man  — "  and  the 
gardener  was  about  to  tell  his  story  when  the  train  began 
to  slow  up.  "I  believe  we  are  coming  to  a  station,"  he 
interrupted  himself.  "I'll  go  out  and  get  a  drink." 


RESURRECTION  173 

The  conversation  came  to  an  end,  and  Nekhltidof, 
following  the  gardener,  also  went  out  on  to  the  wet  board 
walk  of  the  station. 

XLII. 

BEFORE  Nekhliidof  left  the  car,  he  noticed  in  the  sta 
tion  yard  several  fine  carriages  harnessed  either  with 
troikas  or  four  horses,  all  well  groomed,  with  tiny  jingling 
bells.  As  he  stepped  on  to  the  wet  platform  which  looked 
dark  after  the  rain,  he  saw  a  group  of  persons  standing  in 
front  of  the  first-class  passenger  car,  and  conspicuous 
among  them  a  tall,  stout  lady  arrayed  in  a  bonnet  be 
decked  with  fine  plumes  and  a  waterproof  coat,  and  a  tall, 
spindle-legged  youth  in  a  bicycle  costume,  with  a  large, 
well-fed  dog,  wearing  an  expensive  collar,  by  his  side.  The 
footmen  holding  the  wraps  and  umbrellas,  and  the  coach 
man  who  had  come  to  meet  them,  stood  at  a  respectful 
distance.  Every  one  of  these  persons,  from  the  stout  lady 
to  the  coachman  who  was  holding  up  the  skirts  of  his 
long  kaftan,  bore  the  stamp  of  quiet  self-confidence  and 
wealth.  A  circle  of  sight-seers  had  at  once  gathered  about 
the  group, — the  station-master  in  his  red  cap,  the  gen 
darme,  the  omnipresent  young  woman  in  the  Russian 
costume  with  strings  of  beads  around  the  neck,  always  to 
be  found  at  every  incoming  train,  a  telegraph  operator, 
and  other  passengers,  both  men  and  women. 

In  the  Gymnasia  student  with  the  dog,  Nekhludof 
recognized  young  Korchagin.  The  stout  lady  was  evi 
dently  a  sister  of  the  Princess,  the  owner  of  the  estate 
which  the  Korchagins  were  about  to  visit.  The  head 
conductor,  with  glistening  straps  and  shining  boots, 
opened  the  door  of  the  car  and  in  token  of  respect  held  it 
open,  while  Philip  and  a  railway  porter  in  a  white  apron 
were  carefully  moving  the  long-faced  Princess  in  her 
sedan  chair.  The  sisters  greeted  each  other,  and  the 
French  conversation  as  to  whether  the  Princess  would 


i74  RESURRECTION 

better  take  the  open  or  the  closed  carriage  was  distinctly 
audible.  Then  the  procession,  with  the  frizzled-haired 
chambermaid  laden  with  umbrellas  and  the  leather  case, 
started  towards  the  exit. 

Not  wishing  to  meet  them  again  for  a  second  leave- 
taking,  Nekhliidof  paused  before  reaching  the  door  of  the 
station  and  waited  for  them  to  pass.  The  Princess  with 
her  son,  Missy,  the  doctor,  and  the  maid  went  ahead, 
while  the  old  Prince  lingered  behind  with  his  sister-in-law, 
and  Nekhliidof,  who  was  not  near  enough  to  hear  what 
was  said,  caught  only  disconnected  French  sentences. 
One  of  these,  uttered  by  the  Prince,  for  some  unaccount 
able  reason,  as  it  so  often  happens,  sank  into  his  memory 
with  all  its  vocal  intonation :  "  Oh  il  est  du  vrai  grand  monde, 
du  vrai  grand  monde"  The  Prince  was  describing  some 
man,  in  his  loud,  self-assertive  voice,  and  together  with 
his  sister-in-law,  accompanied  by  the  respectful  conduct 
ors  and  porters,  passed  through  the  station  into  the 
yard. 

Just  then  a  gang  of  workmen  in  bast  shoes,  carrying 
sheepskin  coats  and  sacks  slung  over  their  shoulders,  ap 
peared  from  behind  the  corner  of  the  station.  With  soft 
but  decided  steps  they  approached  the  first  car,  and  were 
about  to  enter  it,  but  were  at  once  driven  away  by  a  con 
ductor.  Without  stopping  they  proceeded,  hurriedly  and 
treading  on  each  other's  heels,  to  the  next  car  and  began 
to  climb  in,  catching  their  bags  on  the  doors  and  corners 
of  the  car,  when  another  conductor  who  saw  them  from  the 
door  of  the  station,  guessing  their  intention,  called  out  to 
them.  Those  who  had  entered,  hastily  withdrew,  and 
with  their  soft,  firm  steps  went  to  the  next  car,  the  one  in 
which  Nekhliidof  had  a  seat.  Again  a  conductor  tried 
to  stop  them,  and  they  halted,  intending  to  look  for  seats 
further  along;  but  Nekhhidof  told  them  that  there  was 
plenty  of  room  and  that  they  were  at  liberty  to  get  in. 
They  obeyed  him,  and  he  went  in  after  them.  As  they 
were  looking  about  for  seats,  the  gentleman  with  the 


RESURRECTION  175 

cockade,  and  both  the  ladies  before  mentioned,  considered 
their  attempt  to  find  seats  in  the  car  as  a  personal  insult; 
they  emphatically  opposed  them  and  began  to  drive  them 
away.  There  were  about  twenty  workmen,  old  and 
young,  with  tired,  sunburnt,  haggard  faces,  who  evidently 
feeling  themselves  in  the  wrong,  went  on  hitting  the  seats, 
the  walls,  and  the  doors  and  apparently  ready  to  go  on 
forever  to  the  end  of  the  universe  and  seat  themselves 
wherever  they  were  bidden,  even  if  it  were  on  nails. 

"Where  are  you  going,  you  devils?  Sit  down  here!" 
shouted  another  conductor,  who  was  coming  from  the 
opposite  direction. 

"  Voild,  encore  des  nouvelles"  said  the  younger  of  the 
ladies,  in  hopes  of  attracting  Nekhludof  by  her  good 
French. 

The  lady  in  bracelets  was  sniffing,  frowning,  and  mut 
tering  something  about  the  pleasure  of  sitting  in  the  same 
car  with  such  ill-smelling  peasants. 

The  workmen,  rejoicing  and  relieved,  like  men  who  had 
just  escaped  a  great  danger,  began  to  take  their  seats, 
throwing  from  their  shoulders  and  backs  the  heavy  sacks 
and  stowing  them  away  under  the  benches.  The  gardener 
who  had  been  talking  to  Tarass  now  returned  to  his  own 
seat,  which  left  three  unoccupied  seats  beside  and  oppo 
site  Tarass.  Three  of  the  workmen  occupied  them,  but 
when  Nekhliidof  approached  them,  the  sight  of  his  fine 
raiment  intimidated  them  to  such  a  degree,  that  they 
were  rising  to  go  elsewhere  when  Nekhludof  asked  them  to 
remain,  and  seated  himself  on  the  arm  of  a  seat  in  the 
passageway. 

One  of  them,  a  man  of  fifty,  with  a  look  of  surprise  and 
alarm  in  his  eyes,  exchanged  glances  with  the  younger 
man.  That  Nekhludof,  instead  of  scolding  them  or  driv 
ing  them  off,  as  was  natural  for  every  gentleman  to  do, 
should  have  given  up  his  seat,  amazed  and  perplexed  them. 
They  were  anxious  lest  something  unpleasant  might  fol 
low.  But  when  they  saw  that  no  harm  was  intended,  and 


176  RESURRECTION 

4/t 

that  Nekhludof  was  just  talking  to  Tarass,  they  quieted 
down  and  the  older  man  told  the  younger  man  to  seat 
himself  on  the  sack  and  insisted  that  Nekhludof  should  re 
sume  his  seat.  The  workman  who  sat  facing  Nekhludof 
shrank  back  to  draw  in  his  feet  clad  in  bast  shoes  so  as  not 
to  touch  the  gentleman,  but  after  a  while  he  became  so 
friendly  with  Tarass  and  Nekhludof,  that  he  even  slapped 
Nekhltidof  on  the  knee  with  the  palm  of  his  hand  turned 
upwards,  at  those  points  in  his  story  to  which  he  was  es 
pecially  eager  to  call  the  latter's  attention.  He  told  them 
about  himself,  his  life,  and  his  work  in  the  peat  bogs,  from 
which  he  was  now  returning  home,  having  worked  there 
two  months  and  a  half;  he  was  carrying  home  only  about 
ten  roubles,  because  part  of  his  wages  had  been  paid  in 
advance  when  he  was  hired.  He  said  that  the  work  had 
to  be  done  standing  up  to  his  knees  in  water  and  lasted 
from  daybreak  to  sunset,  with  a  two  hours'  rest  for  dinner. 
It  was  very  hard  for  those  who  were  not  used  to  it,  but 
after  one  got  used  to  it,  it  could  be  borne.  But  the  food 
was  good.  It  had  not  been  so  good  at  first,  but  the  men 
complained  and  it  improved,  and  after  that  it  was  easier 
to  work. 

Then  he  told  how  he  had  been  working  out  for  twenty- 
eight  years  and  how  he  had  sent  home  all  he  had  earned, 
first  to  his  father,  then  to  his  eldest  brother,  and  now  to  the 
nephew  who  managed  the  farm,  while  he  himself  spent  a 
few  roubles,  two  or  three  perhaps,  on  such  follies  as  to 
bacco  or  matches.  "I  must  confess  that  I  take  a  drink 
of  vddka  now  and  then,  when  I  feel  tired,"  he  said  with  a 
guilty  smile. 

Then  he  told  Nekhludof  how  the  women  managed  the 
household  during  their  absence  and  how  the  contractor 
had  treated  them  before  they  started  to  half  a  bucket  of 
vddka,  how  one  of  them  had  died,  and  how  they  were 
bringing  one  sick  man  home.  The  sick  man  of  whom 
he  was  speaking  was  here  in  one  corner  of  the  same 
compartment.  He  was  a  mere  boy,  with  an  ashen-gray 


RESURRECTION  177 

complexion  and  bluish  lips.  He  was  evidently  suffering 
from  malaria. 

Nekhludof  went  up  to  him,  but  the  lad  gazed  into  his 
face  with  such  a  stern  and  suffering  expression,  that 
Nekhludof  forbore  to  trouble  him  with  questions ;  he  only 
advised  the  older  man  to  buy  some  quinine  and  wrote 
down  for  him  on  a  piece  of  paper  the  name  of  the  drug. 
He  also  wanted  to  give  him  some  money,  but  the  older 
workman  said  that  he  would  pay  for  it  himself. 

"I  never  met  such  a  gentleman  in  all  my  travels.  In 
stead  of  driving  us  away,  he  gave  up  his  own  seat  to  us.  I 
suppose  that  shows  that  there  are  different  kinds  of 
gentlemen,"  he  concluded,  turning  to  Tarass. 

"Yes,  this  is  quite  another,  a  new,  a  different  world,'1 
thought  Nekhludof,  looking  at  those  thin,  muscular 
limbs,  those  homemade  clothes,  and  those  emaciated,  sun 
burnt,  but  pleasant  faces,  and  feeling  himself  surrounded 
on  all  sides  by  new  people,  with  their  serious  interests, 
the  joys  and  sorrows  of  human  workaday  life. 

"Here  is  the  vrai grand  monde"  thought  Nekhludof,  re 
membering  the  words  uttered  by  Prince  Korchagin  and 
the  whole  of  that  idle,  luxurious  world  with  its  trifling  and 
pitiful  interests.  And  he  felt  the  joy  of  the  traveler  who 
has  discovered  a  new,  unknown,  and  beautiful  world. 


VOL.  ii. — 


BOOK  III. 
I. 

THE  gang  with  which  Mdslova  traveled  had  already 
made  five  thousand  versts.  As  far  as  Perm  she  had 
traveled  by  rail  and  boat  with  the  prisoners  condemned 
for  criminal  offenses,  and  it  was  not  until  then  that 
Nekhludof  succeeded  in  having  her  transferred  to  the  class 
of  political  prisoners,  as  Bogoduhovsky,  who  was  also 
with  that  party,  had  advised  him  to  do. 

Until  she  had  reached  Perm,  the  journey  had  been  very 
trying  to  Maslova,  both  physically  and  morally.  Phys 
ically  from  the  crowded  conditions,  the  filth,  and  the  dis 
gusting  bugs  and  vermin,  which  gave  no  chance  for  rest, 
night  or  day.  Morally,  because  of  the  revolting  men, 
who  like  the  vermin,  although  changing  at  every  halt, 
were  everywhere  annoying  and  importunate  and  gave  her 
no  rest.  Not  only  among  the  men  and  women  prisoners, 
but  among  the  wardens  and  the  soldiers  of  the  convoy, 
this  habit  of  cynical  debauch  had  become  so  fixed,  that 
every  woman  had  to  be  on  her  guard,  especially  if  she 
were  young  and  had  no  intention  of  selling  herself.  And 
this  continual  state  of  apprehension  and  struggle  was 
very  hard.  Maslova  was  one  of  those  who  suffered  most 
from  such  attacks,  partly  because  of  her  past  life  and  partly 
on  account  of  her  personal  attractiveness.  The  deter 
mined  resistance  which  she  displayed  towards  every  man 
who  annoyed  her,  seemed  a  personal  insult  to  the  indi 
vidual  and  excited  his  resentment  towards  her.  Her 
intimacy  with  Feddsya  and  Tarass  somewhat  relieved  her 
situation.  Tara"ss,  who  had  been  made  aware  of  the 
annoyances  to  which  his  wife  was  subjected,  had  asked 

179 


i8o  RESURRECTION 

to  be  arrested  in  order  to  be  able  to  protect  her,  and 
traveled  from  Nijni  as  a  convict  with  the  others. 

Maslova's  transference  to  the  party  of  political  pris 
oners  vastly  improved  her  situation  in  all  respects.  Not 
to  mention  the  fact  that  the  politicals  had  better  food  and 
were  treated  less  roughly,  Maslova's  change  was  an 
improvement,  because  she  was  no  longer  subjected  to  the 
annoyances  from  men,  and  she  could  live  without  being 
reminded  every  moment  of  her  past  life,  which  she  now 
wished  to  forget.  But  the  chief  advantage  of  this  trans 
fer  was  that  she  learned  to  know  people  whose  influence 
over  her  was  strong  and  helpful. 

Whenever  they  came  to  a  halting-place,  Maslova  was 
allowed  to  stay  with  the  political  prisoners;  but,  as  she 
was  a  woman  in  robust  health,  she  was  obliged  to  march 
with  the  criminals,  and  in  this  way  she  made  the  journey 
from  Tomsk.  Two  of  the  politicals  also  made  the 
journey  with  her,  Marya  Pavlovna  Schetinina,  the  hand 
some  girl  with  the  sheeplike  eyes  who  had  attracted 
Nekhliidof's  attention  when  he  visited  Bogoduhovsky, 
and  a  certain  Simonson,  a  swarthy,  disheveled  man,  with 
deep-sunken  eyes,  whom  Nekhludof  had  also  noticed 
during  that  visit,  and  who  was  exiled  to  the  District  of 
Yakutsk.  Marya  Pavlovna  walked  because  she  had 
given  her  place  on  the  cart  to  one  of  the  criminals  who 
was  expecting  to  be  confined,  and  Simonson  because  he 
considered  it  unfair  to  avail  himself  of  his  class  privilege. 
These  three,  separating  themselves  from  the  political 
prisoners,  who  were  to  start  later  in  the  day,  and  to  follow 
in  the  carts,  left  early  in  the  morning.  And  so  it  was  on 
the  day  of  the  last  journey,  just  before  arriving  at  a  large 
city,  that  the  party  was  put  in  charge  of  another  officer  of 
the  convoy  guard. 

It  was  an  early  September  morning.  A  cold,  drizzling 
rain  was  falling  and  the  wind  blew  in  gusts.  All  the  con 
victs  of  the  party,  about  four  hundred  men  and  fifty 
women,  were  already  assembled  in  the  yard  of  the  halting- 


RESURRECTION  181 

station.  Some  were  crowding  round  the  elder  of  the 
convoy,  who  was  distributing  money  for  two  days' 
rations  to  the  monitors  among  the  prisoners,  and  some 
were  busily  engaged  in  buying  provisions  from  the  women 
venders  who  had  been  admitted  to  the  prison-yard  for 
that  purpose.  One  could  hear  the  voices  of  the  prisoners 
and  the  high  treble  of  the  women  venders. 

Katusha  and  Marya  Pavlovna,  both  wearing  boots  and 
sheepskin  coats  with  shawls  on  their  heads,  came  from 
the  house  into  the  yard  and  went  up  to  the  women  venders, 
who  sat  sheltered  from  the  wind  under  the  north  wall  of 
the  yard  and  vied  with  each  other  in  selling  their  goods: 
a  freshly  baked  pie  of  dark-looking  flour,  fish,  vermicelli, 
porridge,  liver,  meat,  eggs,  and  milk;  one  even  offered  a 
roast  pig  for  sale. 

Simonson  in  a  waterproof  jacket  and  rubbers  fastened 
with  strings  over  his  woolen  stockings  —  as  a  vegetarian 
he  would  not  use  the  skins  of  dead  animals  —  was  also  in 
the  courtyard  waiting  for  the  party  to  start.  He  stood  on 
the  porch  and  jotted  down  in  his  memorandum  book  a 
thought  that  had  just  occurred  to  him:  "If  a  bacterium 
had  examined  a  human  nail,  it  would  consider  it  inorganic 
matter.  It  is  the  same  with  men  who  have  pronounced 
the  globe  to  be  inorganic  matter,  having  observed  nothing 
but  its  crust.  This  is  not  correct. " 

While  Maslova  was  packing  the  eggs,  a  string  of  bread- 
rings,  some  fish,  and  freshly  baked  white  bread  in  a  sack, 
and  Marya  Pavlovna  was  settling  her  bill  with  the  huck 
sters,  a  commotion  arose  among  the  prisoners.  Silence 
reigned  and  the  men  began  to  take  their  places  for  the 
march.  The  officer  came  out  of  the  building  and  began 
to  give  the  last  orders. 

All  went  on  as  usual.  The  convicts  were  counted,  the 
chains  examined,  and  the  men  manacled  in  pairs,  when 
an  angry  shout  from  the  officer,  followed  by  blows  on  a 
human  body  and  a  child's  cry,  were  heard.  All  was  still 
for  a  moment.  Then  a  dull,  threatening  murmur  was 


182  RESURRECTION 

heard  and  M£rya  P£vlovna  and  Mdslova  moved  towards 
the  spot  whence  the  noise  came. 

II. 

THIS  is  what  Katiisha  and  M£rya  Pdvlovna  saw  when 
they  came  near  the  spot  whence  the  noise  proceeded. 
The  officer,  a  stout  man,  with  a  large  blond  mustache, 
stood  frowning  and  vociferating  words  of  unseemly  and 
coarse  abuse,  and  with  his  left  hand  rubbing  the  palm  of 
his  right  hand  which  he  had  bruised  in  striking  a  convict 
on  the  face. 

"I'll  teach  you" — an  imprecation  —  "to  argue"  — 
another  imprecation.  —  "  Give  her  to  the  women !  Put  on 
your  manacles!"  shouted  the  officer. 

He  was  insisting  that  this  communal  convict  should  be 
manacled.  The  wife  of  the  man  had  died  of  typhoid 
fever  at  Tomsk  and  he  had  carried  his  little  girl  all  the  way 
from  Tomsk  in  his  arms.  Now  it  was  rumored  among 
the  prisoners  that  he  was  going  to  be  manacled.  The 
convict's  plea  that  he  would  not  be  able  to  carry  the  child 
if  he  were  manacled  had  incensed  the  officer,  who  hap 
pened  to  be  in  a  fit  of  bad  temper,  and  he  proceeded  to 
punish  the  unruly  man.1 

Facing  the  convict  stood  a  soldier  of  the  convoy  and 
another  black-bearded  convict,  with  one  hand  manacled, 
who  was  gazing  gloomily  from  the  tormented  convict  to 
the  officer.  The  officer  again  bade  the  soldier  take  the 
girl  away.  The  murmur  that  had  risen  among  the  con 
victs  now  became  distinctly  audible. 

"He  has  carried  her  all  the  way  from  Tomsk  without 
manacles,"  said  a  hoarse  voice  from  the  rear.  "It's  a 
child,  not  a  puppy." 

"What  has  he  to  do  with  the  child?  That's  against 
the  law,"  said  another  voice. 

"Who  said  that?"  shouted  the  officer,  rushing  into  the 

1  An  occurrence  described  by  Linev  in  the  "Transportation." 


RESURRECTION  183 

crowd  as  if  something  had  stung  him.  "I'll  teach  you 
the  laws !  Who  said  that  ?  You  ?  You  ?" 

"  We  all  say  it  because "  replied  a  thick-set,  broad- 
shouldered  convict. 

He  did  not  finish.  The  officer  showered  blows  on  him 
with  both  hands. 

"  Ah,  you  defy  me,  do  you !  I'll  show  you  how  to  rebel ! 
I'll  teach  you!  I'll  have  you  shot  like  dogs  and  the 
authorities  will  only  thank  me  for  it!  Take  the  girl  at 
once!" 

The  crowd  stood  silenced.  The  soldier  snatched  the 
girl,  while  another  soldier  manacled  the  prisoner,  who 
meekly  stretched  out  his  hands. 

"  Carry  her  to  the  women,"  shouted  the  officer  to  the 
soldier,  as  he  readjusted  his  sword-belt. 

The  child,  trying  to  extricate  her  hands  from  the  folds 
of  the  shawl,  screamed  at  the  top  of  her  voice.  Marya 
Pavlovna  stepped  forward  and  addressed  the  officer. 

"Allow  me  to  carry  her,  sir." 

The  soldier  who  was  carrying  the  little  girl  halted. 

"Who  are  you  ?"  asked  the  officer. 

"I  am  a  political  prisoner." 

It  was  evident  that  Marya  Pavlovna's  handsome  face, 
with  its  beautiful  prominent  eyes,  had  impressed  the 
officer,  who  had  already  noticed  her  when  he  received  the 
party.  He  looked  at  her  in  silence  as  though  deliberating. 

"  You  may  carry  her,  if  you  like.  It  makes  no  differ 
ence  to  me.  It's  all  well  enough  for  you  to  pity  them,  but 
who  will  be  responsible  if  he  escapes  ?" 

"How  can  he  escape  with  the  child?"  asked  Marya 
PaVlovna. 

"Well,  I  have  no  time  to  discuss  this  question  with  you. 
You  may  take  her  if  you  like." 

"Shall  I  give  her  up?"  asked  the  soldier. 

"You  may." 

"Come  to  me,"  said  Marya  Pavlovna,  trying  to  coax 
the  girl  to  come. 


i84  RESURRECTION 

But  the  child  still  continued  to  scream  and  to  reach  out 
towards  her  father,  refusing  to  go  with  Marya  Pavlovna. 

"  Wait  a  moment,  Mdrya  Pavlovna;  she'll  come  to  me," 
said  Maslova,  taking  a  bread-ring  out  of  her  bag. 

The  child  knew  Maslova,  and  seeing  a  familiar  face 
and  the  bread-ring,  she  allowed  herself  to  be  taken. 

All  were  silent.  The  gates  were  opened  and  the  gang 
stepped  outside  in  marching  order.  Again  the  prisoners 
were  counted,  the  bags  packed  and  placed  on  the  carts, 
and  the  feeble-bodied  men  seated.  Maslova  with  the 
girl  in  her  arms  returned  to  the  women  and  stood  beside 
Fed6sya.  Simonson,  who  had  all  the  time  been  watching 
what  was  going  on,  in  his  decided  gait  went  to  the  officer, 
who  had  by  this  time  finished  giving  his  orders  and  was 
about  to  jump  into  his  tarantdss. 

"You  have  done  wrong,  sir,"  said  Simonson. 

"  Go  back  to  your  place.     That's  none  of  your  business." 

"If  I  think  you  have  done  wrong,  it  is  my  business  to 
tell  you  so,"  said  Simonson,  fixing  his  eyes  from  beneath 
his  thick  eyebrows  directly  upon  the  officer's  face. 

"Is  the  gang  ready?  Forward,  march!"  shouted  the 
officer,  paying  no  heed  to  Simonson,  as  leaning  on  the 
shoulder  of  his  soldier  coachman  he  climbed  into  the 
tarantdss.  The  gang  started  and  spreading  out,  marched 
along  the  muddy  highway,  which  was  flanked  on  both 
sides  by  ditches  that  ran  through  an  unbroken  forest. 

III. 

AFTER  the  dissolute,  luxurious,  and  pampered  existence 
of  the  last  six  years,  and  the  two  months  of  prison  life 
among  the  criminal  prisoners,  her  present  life  among  the 
political  convicts,  in  spite  of  hardships,  seemed  good  to 
Katusha.  The  daily  marches  of  twenty  or  thirty  versts, 
with  satisfactory  food,  and  a  day's  rest  between  every  two 
days  of  marching,  strengthened  her  physically,  while  her 
intercourse  with  her  new  friends  opened  up  vistas  of  life 


RESURRECTION  185 

of  which  she  had  never  dreamed.  "Such  delightful 
people,"  as  she  expressed  it,  speaking  of  those  with  whom 
she  was  now  marching.  She  had  never  known  or  imag 
ined  anything  like  them.  "And  to  think  I  cried  when  I 
was  sentenced,"  she  said.  "I  shall  thank  the  Lord  all 
the  rest  of  my  life!  I  know  now  what  I  never  should 
have  known  otherwise !"  It  was  a  simple  matter  for  her 
to  understand  the  motives  that  governed  their  lives,  and 
like  a  true  daughter  of  the  people,  she  fully  sympathized 
with  them.  She  realized  that  they  stood  for  the  people 
as  against  the  gentry,  and  the  fact  that  some  of  them 
themselves  belonged  to  the  privileged  classes  and  were 
sacrificing  their  advantages,  their  liberty,  even  their 
lives  for  the  people,  forced  her  to  admire  and  esteem 
them. 

She  admired  all  her  new  companions,  but  the  one  whom 
she  particularly  loved  and  worshiped  with  an  enthusiastic 
affection  was  Marya  Pavlovna.  She  was  quite  struck 
with  the  attitude  of  this  beautiful  girl,  a  general's  daugh 
ter,  who  spoke  three  languages  but  behaved  like  a  com 
mon  working- woman,  giving  away  everything  that  her 
rich  brother  sent  her,  and  wearing  clothes  and  shoes  not 
only  of  the  utmost  simplicity  but  even  of  poor  quality, 
and  paying  no  heed  to  her  own  looks.  This  utter  lack  of 
coquetry  particularly  impressed  and  enchanted  Maslova. 
Maslova  could  see  that  Marya  Pavlovna  knew  and  was 
pleased  to  know  that  she  was  handsome,  but  far  from 
rejoicing  at  the  impression  she  made  on  men  she  had  an 
exaggerated  horror  of  all  love  affairs.  Those  men  among 
her  comrades  who  were  aware  of  this  peculiarity,  even 
the  ones  who  might  have  been  drawn  towards  her,  no 
longer  ventured  to  show  their  admiration  but  treated  her 
as  they  would  have  treated  a  man.  But  strangers  had 
frequently  annoyed  her,  and  she  boasted  that  her  own 
physical  strength  guarded  her  from  them. 

"Once,  in  the  street,"  she  told  Katusha,  "some  fellow 
followed  me,  and  I  could  not  get  rid  of  him  until  I  gave 


186  RESURRECTION 

him  such  a  shaking  that  he  was  actually  frightened  and 
ran  away." 

She  became  a  revolutionary,  she  said,  because  from  her 
early  childhood  she  had  felt  an  aversion  for  the  mode  of 
life  of  the  upper  classes,  and  she  was  always  scolded  for 
being  in  the  maids'  room  or  the  kitchen  or  the  stables, 
instead  of  the  drawing-room. 

"I  enjoyed  the  cooks  and  the  grooms,  and  was  bored  to 
death  by  the  women  of  our  own  set.  Then  when  I  grew 
older  I  began  to  understand  and  realize  that  our  life  is 
wrong.  I  had  no  mother,  was  not  fond  of  my  father,  and 
when  I  was  nineteen  I  left  my  home,  and  joining  a  friend 
we  became  factory  girls." 

After  working  in  the  factory  she  lived  for  a  while  in  a 
village,  and  later  returned  to  the  city  and  lived  in  lodgings, 
where  they  had  a  secret  printing  press.  It  was  here  that 
she  was  arrested  and  sentenced.  Marya  Pavlovna  never 
told  of  it  herself,  but  Katusha  found  out  from  the  others 
that  she  had  been  sentenced  to  hard  labor  because  she 
pleaded  guilty  to  a  shot  which  had  been  fired  by  one  of 
the  revolutionists,  in  the  darkness,  while  they  were 
being  searched. 

From  the  day  that  Katusha  first  met  her,  no  matter 
where  she  might  be  or  how  she  might  be  situated,  she 
never  seemed  to  be  thinking  of  herself  but  was  always 
anxious  to  discover  how  she  might  help  others  in  matters 
great  or  small.  Novodvorof,  one  of  her  present  mates, 
remarked  jokingly  that  she  indulged  herself  in  the  sport 
of  charity.  And  it  was  really  so.  All  the  interest  of  her 
life  seemed  to  be  centered  in  finding  an  opportunity  for 
serving  others, — as  a  sportsman  spends  his  time  in  search 
of  game.  And  this  sport  had  become  a  habit,  the  aim  of 
her  life.  She  did  this  so  naturally,  that  all  who  knew  her 
had  ceased  to  appreciate  it  but  simply  expected  it. 

When  Maslova  joined  the  party,  Marya  Pavlovna  had 
felt  an  aversion,  even  a  disgust,  for  her.  Katusha  noticed 
this,  but  she  also  noticed  how  later  on  M£rya  Pdvlovna 


RESURRECTION  187 

made  an  effort  to  overcome  her  aversion  and  grew  par 
ticularly  friendly  and  kind.  And  the  friendliness  and 
kindness  of  this  exceptional  being  touched  Mdslova  to 
such  a  degree  that  she  surrendered  her  whole  heart, 
unconsciously  adopting  all  Marya  Pavlovna 's  views  and 
involuntarily  imitating  her. 

This  devotion  of  Katusha  touched  Marya  Pavlovna, 
and  she  in  her  turn  began  to  love  Katusha.  These 
women  were  also  drawn  together  by  the  aversion  which 
they  both  felt  for  sexual  love.  One  hated  it  because  she 
knew  all  its  horrors,  while  the  other,  having  never  felt  it, 
regarded  it  as  incomprehensible,  disgusting,  and  offensive 
to  personal  dignity. 

IV. 

MASLOVA'S  influence  over  Marya  Pavlovna  sprang 
from  her  love  for  the  latter.  Another  active  influence 
was  that  of  Simonson,  because  Simonson  loved  Maslova. 

People  live  and  act  partly  according  to  their  own  ideas 
and  partly  because  they  are  influenced  by  the  ideas  of 
others.  One  of  the  principal  differences  between  men  is 
determined  by  the  degree  of  resistance  which  a  man  offers 
to  the  influence  of  his  neighbors.  Some  people  do  their 
thinking  as  if  it  were  some  kind  of  diversion,  using  their 
reason  like  a  fly-wheel  with  the  strap  off,  and  they  are 
naturally  open  to  the  influence  of  other  men's  opinions, 
or  the  possibly  more  potent  factor  of  tradition  or  la.w. 
Others,  who  respect  their  own  opinions  as  the  chief 
incentive  to  action,  generally  listen  to  the  dictates  of  their 
own  reason  and  obey  them,  regardless  as  a  rule  of  public 
opinion,  which  they  do  occasionally  accept,  but  only  after 
long  and  careful  deliberation.  Simonson  belonged  to 
the  latter  type  of  men.  He  verified  and  decided  matters 
according  to  the  light  of  his  own  reason,  and  after  making 
his  decision  he  always  carried  it  into  effect. 

Having  decided,  when  he  was  a  schoolboy,  that  all  his 


i88  RESURRECTION 

father's  property  acquired  as  a  paymaster  in  government 
service  had  been  dishonestly  earned,  he  told  him  that  he 
was  in  duty  bound  to  give  it  back  to  the  people.  But 
when  his  father  not  only  declined  to  follow  his  advice,  but 
gave  him  a  good  scolding  for  his  folly,  he  left  home  and 
never  accepted  another  penny  from  him.  Coming  to  the 
conclusion  that  all  the  evil  that  exists  in  this  world  is  the 
result  of  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  no  sooner  had  he 
left  the  University  than  he  proceeded  to  join  the  Populists 
and  to  become  a  village  teacher.  While  he  held  this 
position  he  boldly  advocated  in  his  classes,  and  also  to  the 
peasants  in  general,  every  cause  that  he  believed  to  be 
just,  and  condemned  those  which  seemed  to  be  false  and 
iniquitous.  He  was  arrested  and  sentenced. 

During  the  course  of  the  trial  he  made  up  his  mind  that 
the  judges  had  no  right  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  him  and 
told  them  so.  When  the  judges  did  not  seem  inclined  to 
accept  his  opinion,  but  continued  the  trial,  he  again  made 
up  his  mind  to  give  no  reply  to  their  questions  but  to 
maintain  absolute  silence.  He  was  exiled  to  the  Arch 
angel  Government.  Here  he  formulated  his  doctrinal 
scheme  of  life,  the  essence  of  which  dwelt  in  the  theory 
that  no  object  in  this  world  is  really  inanimate,  that  what 
ever  has  hitherto  been  called  inorganic  simply  forms  a 
part  of  the  vast  organism  which  no  man  has  yet  been  able 
to  comprehend.  Therefore  the  problem  of  human  life — 
as  one  of  the  particles  of  this  organism — consists  in  the 
effort  to  preserve  not  only  its  own  existence,  but  that  of  all 
other  living  particles.  He  therefore  deemed  it  criminal 
to  destroy  any  life  whatsoever;  he  was  opposed  to  war,  to 
capital  punishment,  and  to  every  variety  of  slaughter, 
whether  it  be  of  human  beings  or  of  animals.  He  also 
had  his  own  theories  in  regard  to  marriage;  to  increase 
and  multiply  seemed  to  him  the  lowest  function  of  man, 
as  he  sincerely  believed  that  service  to  mankind  in  general 
was  undoubtedly  his  most  important  function.  He  found 
a  confirmation  of  this  idea  in  the  presence  of  phagocytes 


RESURRECTION  189 

in  the  blood.  Celibates,  according  to  his  opinion,  were 
like  phagocytes,  whose  object  was  to  strengthen  the  weak 
or  diseased  parts  of  this  organism.  And  since  that  time 
he  had  lived  in  strict  accordance  with  these  principles, 
although,  when  a  youth,  he  had  been  more  or  less  lawless 
in  his  habits.  He  regarded  Marya  Pavlovna  and  himself 
as  humanitarian  phagocytes. 

His  love  for  Katusha,  which  was  purely  platonic,  had 
no  effect  upon  his  theory  save  that  it  acted  as  an  inspira 
tion  to  higher  efforts  in  behalf  of  mankind. 

Moral  questions  were  not  the  only  ones  that  he  decided 
in  this  original  way.  Every  practical  question  was  sub 
jected  to  the  same  rule.  He  had  his  own  theories  for 
dealing  with  practical  affairs:  rules  for  the  number  of 
hours  a  man  ought  to  work  and  to  rest;  the  kind  of  food 
to  be  eaten;  the  sort  of  clothing  to  be  worn;  the  proper 
manner  of  building  a  fire,  and  of  lighting  a  house. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  all  his  theories,  Simonson  was  a  very 
timid  and  modest  man,  but  when  his  decision  had  once 
been  made,  no  power  on  earth  could  move  him. 

And  his  love  for  Maslova  was  the  reason  of  his  influence 
over  her.  Maslova,  by  the  aid  of  her  feminine  instinct, 
had  long  since  divined  the  state  of  affairs,  and  the  assur 
ance  that  she  could  be  loved  by  such  an  extraordinary 
man  raised  her  in  her  own  estimation.  Nekhludof  had 
offered  to  marry  her  because  of  the  past  and  his  own 
generosity,  but  Simonson  loved  her  as  she  was  now,  and 
simply  because  he  did  love  her.  Moreover,  she  felt  that 
Simonson  looked  upon  her  as  a  woman  above  the  average, 
different  from  other  women,  as  one  endowed  with  un 
usually  high  moral  attributes.  She  did  not  clearly  under 
stand  what  these  qualities  which  he  attributed  to  her 
might  be,  but  she  was  determined  not  to  disappoint  him, 
so  she  strove  to  cultivate  the  highest  qualities  of  which  she 
could  conceive,  and  this  compelled  her  to  be  as  good  as 
she  knew  how  to  be. 

This  began  in  prison,  during  those  hours  when  they 


190  RESURRECTION 

had  been  allowed  to  join  the  political  prisoners,  and  she 
had  noticed  the  steady  gaze  of  his  kind,  innocent,  dark- 
blue  eyes,  peering  at  her  from  under  his  overhanging 
brow.  It  was  then  that  she  noticed  how  different  he  was 
from  the  others,  and  how  he  watched  her;  she  also  noticed 
that  strange  combination  of  severity — emphasized  by  his 
frowning  brow  and  unruly  hair — and  childlike  innocence 
and  good  nature.  When  afterwards  she  again  joined  the 
political  prisoners  in  Tomsk  and  met  him,  though  not  a 
word  passed  between  them,  the  glances  they  exchanged 
were  a  sign  of  recognition  and  mutual  understanding  of 
their  dependence  on  each  other.  And  since  that  time 
there  had  been  no  important  conversations  between  them, 
but  Mdslova  felt  that  when  he  talked  in  her  presence,  his 
words  were  meant  for  her  and  that  he  took  pains  to  use 
words  that  she  could  understand.  But  after  he  began  to 
walk  with  the  criminal  convicts,  their  intimacy  increased. 

V. 

BETWEEN  Nijni  and  Perm,  Nekhludof  saw  Katusha  but 
twice,  when  the  prisoners  traveled  on  a  barge  protected  by 
a  wire  netting,  and  again  at  Perm  in  the  office  of  the 
prison;  and  both  times  she  seemed  to  him  reserved  and  un 
friendly.  When  he  asked  her  if  she  was  comfortable  or  if 
she  needed  anything,  she  made  an  evasive  answer  and  ap 
peared  somewhat  confused.  It  seemed  to  him  as  if  the 
hostile  attitude  of  her  earlier  prison  days  were  revived. 
This  gloomy  mood,  the  direct  result  of  all  the  annoyances 
to  which  she  had  been  subjected  by  the  men  in  the  prison, 
distressed  Nekhludof.  He  feared  lest  the  crushing  and 
degrading  influences  to  which  she  had  been  subjected  dur 
ing  the  journey  might  have  caused  her  to  fall  into  her 
former  state  of  despair  and  discontent  which  had  made 
her  so  irritable  with  him,  and  had  caused  her  to  smoke  and 
drink  in  the  hope  of  forgetting  herself.  But  he  couldn't 
possibly  help  her  because,  during  the  early  part  of  the 


RESURRECTION  191 

journey,  he  had  been  unable  to  see  her.  It  was  only  after 
she  joined  the  political  convicts  that  he  realized  the  change 
that  had  been  going  on  in  her  character,  which  he  had  so 
longed  to  see,  and  the  futility  of  his  own  fears.  The  first 
time  they  met  in  Tomsk  she  seemed  like  her  own  self. 
She  neither  frowned  nor  did  she  seem  confused,  but  met 
him  joyfully  and  naturally,  thanked  him  for  what  he  had 
done  for  her  and  especially  for  having  given  her  the 
chance  to  know  the  people  with  whom  she  was  now 
traveling. 

After  two  months  with  the  marching  gang,  the  change 
that  had  taken  place  in  her  was  reflected  not  only  in  her 
face  but  in  her  general  appearance.  She  had  grown  sun 
burned,  seemed  thinner  and  somewhat  older,  wrinkles  had 
appeared  on  her  temples  and  around  her  lips,  she  no  longer 
let  her  hair  fall  over  her  forehead  but  covered  it  with  a 
kerchief,  and  neither  by  her  dress  nor  by  the  way  of  ar 
ranging  her  hair  nor  by  her  manners  did  she  betray  the 
smallest  sign  of  coquetry.  This  change  which  had  begun 
and  was  still  going  on  within  her  made  Nekhludof  exceed 
ingly  happy. 

Now  he  felt  towards  her  as  he  had  never  felt  before,  and 
this  feeling  had  nothing  in  common  either  with  that  early 
sense  of  romantic  exaltation  or  with  the  sensual  love  which 
he  had  felt  for  her  later  on.  Neither  was  it  in  the  least 
akin  to  that  self-satisfaction  which  springs  from  a  sense 
of  a  duty  performed  which  had  induced  him  after  the 
trial  to  offer  himself  to  her.  It  was  simply  a  feeling  of 
pity  and  tenderness  which  he  had  felt  when  he  first  saw 
her  in  the  jail,  and  which  had  developed  into  a  still 
stronger  emotion,  when  after  seeing  her  in  the  hospital  he 
had  conquered  his  aversion  and  forgiven  her  for  that  sup 
posititious  intrigue  with  the  medical  assistant.  The  in 
justice  of  that  accusation  had  been  fully  revealed  later  on. 
It  was  the  same,  but  with  this  difference :  once  it  was  fleet 
ing,  now  it  had  become  settled.  Whatever  he  happened 
to  be  doing  or  thinking,  his  mood  was  always  tender  and 


RESURRECTION 

pitiful,  not  towards  Mdslova  alone,  but  towards  the  whole 
world. 

This  feeling  had  released  in  Nekhludof's  soul  the  source 
which  hitherto  had  found  no  outlet  but  was  now  flowing 
towards  every  one  he  met. 

During  his  journey  he  realized  that  he  was  in  that  ex 
cited  frame  of  mind  which  made  him  unconsciously  eager 
to  help  everybody,  from  the  driver  to  the  soldiers  of  the 
convoy,  from  the  prison  warden  to  the  Governor  himself. 
During  that  time  and  owing  to  the  fact  that  Maslova 
was  now  with  the  political  prisoners,  he  had  the  chance  of 
becoming  acquainted  with  many  of  them,  first  in  Ekater 
inburg,  where  they  were  not  so  closely  guarded,  but  were 
kept  together  in  one  large  cell,  and  afterwards  when  he 
traveled  with  the  five  men  and  four  women  of  Maslova's 
party.  This  intercourse  with  the  political  exiles  com 
pletely  changed  his  opinion  in  regard  to  them. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  revolutionary  movement  in 
Russia,  and  particularly  after  the  first  of  March,  Nekhlu- 
dof  had  had  an  unfriendly  and  contemptuous  feeling  for 
the  revolutionaries.  To  begin  with,  he  was  repelled  by 
the  cruelty  and  secrecy  of  the  methods  they  employed  in 
their  struggle  with  the  government,  and  above  all  the 
cruel  murders  which  they  committed.  Their  overweening 
self-assurance — a  trait  common  to  all  of  them — was 
also  offensive  to  him.  But  when  he  came  to  know  them 
more  intimately  and  realized  what  they  had  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  the  government,  frequently  without  being  guilty, 
he  understood  why  they  were  so  self-assertive;  how  could 
they  be  otherwise? 

Though  the  cruelties  to  which  the  criminals  were  sub 
jected  were  certainly  senseless  and  terrible,  there  still  re 
mained  a  semblance  of  justice  shown  them  before  and  after 
the  sentence  had  been  pronounced;  but  no  shadow  of  jus 
tice  was  evident  in  their  dealings  with  the  political  pris 
oners,  as  Nekhludof  had  had  occasion  to  observe  in  the 
Shu stova  affair  and  afterwards  in  the  cases  of  many  of  his 


RESURRECTION  193 

new  friends.  These  people  were  dealt  with  as  one  deals 
with  fish  caught  in  a  net.  Everything  that  is  caught  is 
taken  ashore,  the  larger  fish  are  sorted  into  lots  and  the 
small  ones  are  left  to  decay  or  dry  up  on  the  shore.  So  in 
these  instances  when  hundreds  are  arrested,  there  are  per 
sons  among  them  who  are  not  only  innocent,  but  who 
could  not  possibly  injure  the  government  if  they  would, 
imprisoned  for  years  in  places  where  they  often  contracted 
consumption  or  grew  insane  and  committed  suicide. 
Such  persons  have  been  kept  in  prison  only  because  there 
was  no  special  reason  for  setting  them  at  liberty.  If  they 
had  been  kept  in  jail,  they  might  have  been  of  some  use  as 
witnesses  during  the  trial  of  the  actual  conspirators.  The 
fate  of  all  these  persons,  often  acknowledged  to  be  inno 
cent,  even  by  the  government  itself,  depends  entirely  on 
the  whim,  the  leisure,  or  the  mood  of  some  gendarme, 
police  spy,  public  prosecutor,  magistrate,  governor,  or 
minister.  Some  such  official  is  feeling  restless,  or  wishes 
to  show  his  zeal,  and  proceeds  to  make  arrests,  after 
which  summary  act  on  his  part  he  may,  according  to  his 
own  mood,  or  that  of  his  superiors,  either  set  the  prisoners 
free  or  keep  them  in  prison.  And  the  higher  official  also 
deals  with  these  victims  in  the  same  arbitrary  manner. 
All  depends  either  on  the  terms  existing  between  the  min 
ister  and  himself  or  on  his  own  ambition  to  distinguish 
himself,  whether  he  exiles  them  to  the  confines  of  the 
world  or  keeps  them  in  solitary  confinement,  or  sentences 
them  to  exile  or  hard  labor  or  death,  or  lets  them  go  if 
some  lady  happens  to  ask  him  to  do  so. 

They  had  been  treated  like  that  in  times  of  war,  and 
they  naturally  used  the  same  methods  that  had  been  em 
ployed  against  them.  And  like  the  military  who  always 
live  in  an  atmosphere  of  public  opinion,  which  not  only 
conceals  from  them  the  criminality  of  their  acts  but  pre 
sents  them  under  the  aspect  of  deeds  of  heroism,  the  po 
litical  convicts  being  likewise  surrounded  by  an  atmos 
phere  of  the  public  opinion  of  their  own  circle, — which 

VOL.    II. — 13 


i94  RESURRECTION 

so  far  from  representing  the  cruel  acts  they  have  com 
mitted  at  the  risk  of  their  liberty,  their  lives,  and  all  that 
is  dearest  to  man  as  evil  deeds, — always  exalted  them  as 
deeds  of  glory.  This  was  the  way  in  which  Nekhludof  ex 
plained  to  himself  the  surprising  fact  that  the  mildest  of 
men,  incapable  by  nature  of  causing,  even  of  witnessing, 
the  suffering  of  any  living  creature,  calmly  planned  the 
assassination  of  men;  and  the  majority  of  them,  in  certain 
cases,  approved  of  this  deed  as  a  method  of  self-defense 
and  considered  it  both  lawful  and  just  to  promote  by  these 
methods  the  higher  welfare  of  the  greater  number.  As  to 
their  own  high  opinion  of  their  special  cause,  and  of  them 
selves,  this  was  the  natural  result  of  the  importance  that 
the  government  attached  to  it,  and  the  cruel  punishments 
to  which  they  were  subjected.  It  was  necessary  for  them 
to  hold  such  an  exalted  opinion  of  themselves  in  order  to 
endure  the  punishments  thus  inflicted  upon  them. 

When  he  came  to  know  them  more  intimately,  Nekhlu 
dof  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  they  were  neither  the 
unmitigated  villains  that  some  persons  fancied  them,  nor 
the  heroes  for  whom  other  persons  took  them,  but  very 
ordinary  men,  among  whom,  as  everywhere  else,  there 
were  good,  bad,  and  mediocre  individuals.  Many  of 
them  had  become  revolutionists  because  they  considered 
it  their  duty  to  oppose  the  existing  evils.  But  there  were 
others  who  had  chosen  this  career  from  selfish  and  ambi 
tious  motives.  The  majority,  however,  had  been  attracted 
to  the  revolutionary  ideas  by  a  longing  for  danger  and 
risks,  by  a  sense  of  exhilaration  in  playing  their  part  in  the 
game  of  life,  feelings  common  to  all  energetic  young  men 
and  familiar  to  Nekhludof  from  his  own  military  expe 
rience.  The  difference  between  them  and  other  men  lay 
chiefly  in  the  fact  that  their  moral  standards  were  higher 
than  those  of  ordinary  men.  Abstinence,  a  certain  rough 
ness  in  the  mode  of  life,  truthfulness,  unselfishness,  even 
a  readiness  to  sacrifice  their  own  lives  for  "the  cause," 
were  considered  indispensable.  Therefore  those  among 


RESURRECTION  19$ 

them  who  were  above  the  common  level,  were  superior 
to  him  and  reached  a  high  moral  altitude,  while  those  who 
were  inferior  to  him  were  frequently  untruthful,  hypo 
critical,  self-conceited,  and  arrogant.  That  was  why 
Nekhludof  learned  not  only  to  respect  but  to  love  some 
of  his  new  friends  with  all  his  heart,  while  remaining 
more  than  indifferent  to  others. 


VI. 

NEKHLUDOF  became  particularly  fond  of  Kryltzdf,  a 
consumptive  young  man  who  was  exiled  and  was  in  the 
same  gang  which  Katusha  had  joined.  Nekhludof  had 
made  his  acquaintance  in  Ekaterinburg  and  had  several 
talks  with  him  during  the  journey.  Once,  in  summer, 
during  one  of  the  halts,  Nekhludof  had  spent  a  whole  day 
with  him,  and  as  Kryltzof  became  more  and  more  com 
municative,  he  told  him  his  story  and  the  reason  why  he 
had  become  a  revolutionist.  It  was  a  very  short  story, 
the  one  he  had  to  tell  before  he  was  arrested.  His  father, 
a  wealthy  southern  landowner,  had  died  while  he  was 
still  a  child.  He  was  an  only  son  and  was  brought  up  by 
his  mother.  He  learned  very  easily  in  the  Gymnasium 
and  in  the  University  and  graduated  with  the  degree  of 
"  Kandidat"  in  mathematics.  He  was  offered  a  chance  to 
remain  on  the  staff  of  University  Instructors  and  of  going 
abroad,  but  he  hesitated  because  he  loved  a  young 
woman  and  was  contemplating  marriage  and  a  life  of 
activity  in  the  Zemstvo.  He  wanted  both  and  could  not 
make  up  his  mind.  At  that  time  his  fellow-students  in 
the  University  asked  him  for  a  contribution  to  the  com 
mon  cause.  He  knew  this  cause  to  be  revolutionary,  in 
which  at  that  time  he  took  no  interest  whatever,  but  from 
a  feeling  of  comradeship  and  vanity,  and  fearing  lest  he 
be  considered  a  coward,  he  gave  the  money.  Those  who 
received  it  were  arrested  and  a  note  was  found  which 
proved  that  the  money  was  given  by  Kryltz6f.  He,  too, 


i96  RESURRECTION 

was  arrested,  kept  for  a  while  in  the  police  station,  and 
then  sent  to  jail. 

"In  the  prison  where  I  was  confined,"  he  said,  telling 
his  story  to  Nekhludof,  as  he  sat  on  the  high  sleeping- 
bunk,  leaning  his  elbows  on  his  knees  and  only  now  and 
then  glancing  at  him  with  his  fine,  feverish-glistening 
eyes,  "there  was  no  special  discipline.  Not  only  could 
we  signal  to  each  other,  but  we  could  communicate  with 
each  other  in  the  corridor,  share  our  provisions  and  to 
bacco,  and  frequently  sang  in  chorus  at  night.  I  had  a 
good  voice.  That's  a  fact.  If  it  had  not  been  for  my 
mother's  grief — and  she  was  quite  overcome — I  should 
have  found  my  life  pleasant  and  interesting  even  in  prison. 
By  the  way,  it  was  here  that  I  made  the  acquaintance,  not 
only  of  the  famous  Petr6f,  who  later  on  ended  his  life  by 
cutting  his  throat  with  a  piece  of  glass,  but  of  other  revo 
lutionists.  But  I  was  not  one  myself.  I  also  made 
the  acquaintance  of  my  two  neighbors.  They  were  both 
caught  in  the  same  affair  of  the  Polish  proclamations  and 
were  to  be  tried  for  their  attempt  to  escape  from  the  con 
voy,  while  being  taken  to  the  railroad  station.  One  was 
Lozinsky  and  the  other  Rozdvsky,  a  Jew.  This  Rozovsky 
was  still  but  a  boy.  He  said  he  was  seventeen  but  he 
looked  about  fifteen.  Slender,  short,  with  bright  black 
eyes,  full  of  life,  and  very  musical  like  most  of  the  Jews. 
His  voice  was  still  breaking,  but  he  sang  well.  They 
were  both  tried  while  I  was  in  prison.  They  were  sum 
moned  in  the  morning.  At  night  they  returned  and  told 
us  that  they  were  condemned  to  die.  No  one  had  expected 
this.  Their  guilt  was  a  matter  of  so  little  importance, 
• —  it  was  only  that  they  had  tried  to  escape  from  the  con 
voy  and  had  not  even  wounded  any  one.  And  then  it 
seemed  so  unnatural  to  condemn  to  death  such  a  child  as 
Roz6vsky.  So  we  all  agreed  in  the  prison  that  it  had  been 
said  only  to  scare  them  and  that  the  sentence  would  never 
be  executed.  We  were  all  quite  excited,  of  course,  but 
calmed  down  later  on,  and  prison  life  resumed  its  habit- 


RESURRECTION  197 

ual  character.  But,  one  evening,  a  prison  guard  comes 
to  my  door  and  mysteriously  announces  that  the  carpen 
ters  have  come  to  put  up  the  gallows.  I  did  not  believe 
him  at  first.  Gallows!  What  gallows?  But  the  old 
guard  was  so  excited  that  when  I  looked  in  his  face  I  knew 
that  the  gallows  were  for  our  two  friends.  I  was  about 
to  rap  and  try  to  find  out  from  the  others,  but  feared  lest 
the  guard  might  overhear.  My  comrades  also  were  silent, 
• —  evidently  they  also  were  aware  of  it.  A  dead  silence 
reigned  that  night  in  the  corridor  and  the  cells.  We  neither 
rapped  nor  sang.  About  ten  o'clock  the  guard  came 
again  and  said  that  the  hangman  had  come  from  Moscow. 
He  said  this  and  went  away.  All  at  once  I  heard  Rozdv- 
sky  calling  to  me  from  his  cell:  'What  do  you  want? 
Why  are  you  calling  him  back  ?'  I  told  him  that  he  had 
brought  me  tobacco,  but  he  seemed  to  guess  that  some 
thing  was  wrong  and  began  to  question  me:  'Why  didn't 
we  sing  ?  Why  didn't  we  tap  on  the  wall  ?'  I  don't 
remember  what  answer  I  made,  but  I  soon  went  away  so 
as  to  avoid  speaking  to  him.  Yes,  it  was  a  terrible  night. 
Yes.  I  listened  to  sounds  all  night.  Then  in  the  morn 
ing,  I  heard  the  doors  along  the  corridor  open  and  foot 
steps  as  of  many  people.  I  placed  myself  at  my  little 
window.  A  lamp  was  burning  in  the  corridor.  The 
first  to  go  by  was  the  Inspector.  He  was  a  stout  man 
with  a  great  deal  of  self-assurance  and  confidence,  but 
he  looked  frightened  and 'as  pale  as  death  and  walked 
with  his  head  down.  The  Assistant  followed,  with  a 
frowning  brow  and  a  determined  face.  The  guard 
brought  up  the  rear.  They  passed  my  door  and  halted 
by  the  next  door.  Then  I  heard  the  Assistant  call  out 
to  Lozinsky,  'Get  up,  Lozinsky,  and  put  on  clean  linen. 
Yes.  Then  I  heard  the  door  squeak  as  they  went  into 
the  cell.  Then  I  heard  Lozinsky's  steps  as  he  passed  out 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  corridor.  But  I  could  only 
see  the  Inspector,  pale  as  pale  could  be,  buttoning  and 
unbuttoning  a  single  button  of  his  coat  and  shrugging  his 


198  RESURRECTION 

shoulders.  Yes.  Then  he  quickly  stepped  aside,  as 
though  he  were  afraid  of  something.  It  was  Lozinsky 
who  had  passed  him  at  that  moment  and  who  was  stand 
ing  at  my  door.  He  was  a  handsome  youth,  you  know, 
of  that  fine  Polish  type,  with  a  straight,  broad  brow  and  a 
mass  of  light,  silky  curling  hair,  and  beautiful  blue  eyes, 
a  youth  full  of  vigor  and  health.  He  paused  before  my 
little  window  so  that  I  could  see  his  whole  face.  'Have 
you  any  cigarettes,  Kryltzof  ?'  I  was  about  to  hand  him 
some,  when  the  Assistant,  as  though  fearing  to  be  late, 
pulled  out  his  own  case  and  offered  it  to  him.  He  took 
one  cigarette  and  the  Assistant  lighted  the  match.  He 
began  smoking  and  seemed  to  be  thinking.  Then,  as 
though  recalling  something,  he  began  to  speak:  'It's  both 

cruel   and   unjust.     I've  committed  no  crime.     I ' 

Something  seemed  to  quiver  in  his  white  young  throat, 
from  which  I  could  not  keep  my  eyes,  and  he  stopped. 
Yes.  Then  I  heard  Rozovsky  from  the  corridor  shout 
ing  in  his  thin,  Jewish  voice.  Lozinsky  threw  away  the 
stump  of  the  cigarette  and  walked  away  from  the  door. 
Then  I  saw  Rozdvsky's  face  in  the  window.  His  child 
ish  face  with  its  moist  black  eyes  was  red  and  covered  with 
perspiration.  He  was  dressed  in  clean  linen,  but  his 
trousers  were  too  wide  in  the  belt  and  he  kept  pulling  them 
up  with  both  hands  and  trembled  all  over.  'Didn't  the 
doctor  prescribe  an  herb-drink  for  me,  Anatoly  Petrd- 
vitch,  didn't  he?  I  am  not  well;  I  want  another  sip  of 
that  herb- tea.'  No  one  answered  and  he  looked  inquir 
ingly  from  me  to  the  Inspector,  but  I  never  understood 
what  he  meant  by  those  words.  Yes.  Then  all  at  once 
the  Assistant  put  on  his  stern  look  again,  and  in  a  shrill, 
unnatural  voice  exclaimed:  'This  is  no  time  for  jokes. 
Come  on ! '  Evidently  Rozdvsky  was  not  able  to  under 
stand  what  awaited  him,  and  hurried,  indeed,  he  almost  ran 
ahead  of  the  others  along  the  corridor.  But  a  moment 
later  he  refused  to  move  on,  and  I  heard  his  piercing 
voice  and  his  wails.  Above  the  hubbub  that  ensued  I 


RESURRECTION  199 

could  hear  the  tramping  of  the  feet.  He  shrieked  and 
wept.  Then  the  sounds  grew  fainter,  the  door  of  the 
corridor  banged  and  all  was  still.  .  .  .  Yes.  And 
they  were  hanged.  Both  were  strangled  with  ropes.  A 
watchman  who  saw  it  told  me  that  Lozinsky  did  not  re 
sist,  but  that  Rozovsky  struggled  a  long  time  and  was 
finally  dragged  to  the  scaffold  by  force  and  his  head  was 
thrust  into  the  noose.  Yes.  This  guard  was  a  stupid 
fellow.  *I  was  told,  sir,  that  it  would  be  frightful,  but  it 
wasn't.  After  they  were  hanged  only  twice  their  shoul 
ders  moved  convulsively,  just  twice — like  that!'  and  he 
showed  how  the  shoulders  rose  and  fell.  'Then  the  hang 
man  pulled  on  the  rope,  so  as  to  tighten  the  noose,  and 
that  was  the  end  of  it.  They  didn't  move  any  more!' — 
No,  it  wasn't  frightful,"  added  Kryltzdf,  repeating  the 
watchman's  words.  He  tried  to  smile,  but  the  smile 
ended  in  a  sob. 

He  remained  silent  for  some  time,  breathing  heavily, 
and  trying  to  repress  the  sobs  that  choked  him. 

"From  that  time  I  have  been  a  revolutionist.  Yes," 
he  said,  as  he  became  calmer,  and  then  he  briefly  finished 
his  story. 

He  belonged  to  the  party  of  Narodovdltzy1  and  was 
even  the  head  of  a  disorganizing  group,  whose  object  was 
to  terrorize  the  Government  until  it  abdicated  its  author 
ity  of  its  own  accord,  and  called  upon  the  people  to 
govern  themselves.  With  this  object  in  view  he  went  to 
Petersburg,  to  Kief,  to  Odessa,  and  abroad,  and  was  suc 
cessful  wherever  he  went.  But  the  man  in  whom  he 
trusted  betrayed  him.  He  was  arrested,  imprisoned 
for  two  years,  and  condemned  to  death,  a  sentence  which 
was  changed  to  hard  labor  for  life.  In  prison  he  became 
consumptive,  and  now,  under  present  conditions,  it  was 
evident  that  he  had  but  a  few  months  longer  to  live.  He 
realized  this,  but  was  not  sorry  for  what  he  had  done. 
He  said  that  if  he  had  his  life  to  live  over,  he  would  use 

1  Freedom  of  the  people. 


200  RESURRECTION 

it  in  the  same  way,  —  that  is,  for  the  destruction  of  an 
existing  order  of  things  which  made  possible  such  sights 
as  he  had  seen. 

The  story  of  this  man  and  his  intimacy  with  Nekhludof 
explained  to  the  latter  much  that  he  had  been  unable  to 
understand  until  now. 

VII. 

THE  day  of  the  encounter  between  the  officer  of  the  con 
voy  and  the  prisoner  with  the  child,  Nekhludof,  who  had 
spent  the  night  at  the  village  inn,  awoke  late,  because  he 
had  sat  up  far  into  the  night  writing  some  business  letters 
that  had  to  be  mailed  in  the  next  town.  He  had  left  his 
night's  lodgings  later  than  usual  and  so  failed  to  overtake 
the  gang  on  the  highway,  as  was  his  custom.  He  did  not 
reach  the  village  where  the  next  halting-station  was  to  be, 
until  dusk.  Having  dried  his  clothes  at  the  village  inn, 
kept  by  a  stout  widow  with  a  fat  neck,  Nekhludof  took 
his  tea  in  a  clean  room,  decorated  with  many  ikons  and 
pictures,  and  hastened  to  the  halting-place  to  get  the 
officer's  permission  to  see  Maslova. 

At  the  six  preceding  halting-stations,  all  the  officers  of 
the  convoy  had  been  changed  several  times,  and  every 
one  of  them  refused  to  admit  Nekhludof  inside  the  halt 
ing-station;  therefore  he  had  not  seen  Katusha  for  more 
than  a  week.  This  strictness  was  caused  by  the  expecta 
tion  of  the  arrival  of  some  important  Prison  Inspector. 
Now  that  the  personage  had  passed  without  even  looking 
in,  Nekhludof  hoped  that  the  officer  of  the  convoy,  who 
had  taken  charge  of  the  gang  that  morning,  would  grant 
him  the  interview,  as  those  before  him  had  done. 

The  landlady  offered  Nekhludof  a  tarantass  to  take  him 
to  the  halting-station,  which  was  at  the  farther  end  of  the 
village,  but  Nekhludof  preferred  to  walk.  A  young, 
broad-shouldered  fellow,  who  was  as  large  as  a  knight  of 
old,  wearing  top-boots  freshly  greased  with  strong-smell- 


RESURRECTION  201 

ing  tar,  offered  to  escort  him.  It  was  drizzling  and  so 
dark  that  when  his  guide  was  but  three  paces  ahead, 
Nekhludof  could  no  longer  see  him,  unless  they  were 
passing  houses  and  the  light  fell  from  the  windows.  He 
could  only  hear  the  splash  of  his  boots  in  the  deep  sticky 
mud.  Having  passed  the  square  with  its  church  and  a 
long  street  with  brightly  lighted  windows,  Nekhludof, 
following  his  escort,  plunged  into  utter  darkness  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  village.  But  soon,  even  here,  he  could 
distinguish  rays  of  light  from  the  lanterns  that  were  posted 
around  the  halting-station.  These  red  spots  of  light  grew 
brighter  and  brighter.  The  stakes  of  the  palisade  that 
encircled  the  halting-station,  the  dark,  moving  figure  of 
the  sentinel,  the  striped  post,  and  the  watchman's  box 
soon  came  into  sight.  The  sentinel  called  out,  "Who 
goes  there  ?"  and  on  being  told  that  they  did  not  belong  to 
the  party,  was  so  strict  that  he  would  not  allow  them  even 
to  wait  beside  the  fence.  But  Nekhludof 's  guide  was  not 
intimidated  by  his  severity. 

"You  are  a  cross  lad,"  he  said  to  him.  "Just  shout, 
will  you,  and  call  the  head  man;  we  will  wait." 

The  sentry,  without  replying,  shouted  something 
through  the  gates  and  then  stopped  and  watched  the 
broad-shouldered  young  fellow  by  the  light  of  the  lantern, 
cleaning  the  mud  off  Nekhludof 's  boots  with  a  chip. 

One  could  hear  the  hum  of  men's  and  women's  voices 
behind  the  palisade.  Three  minutes  later  there  was  a 
sound  of  clanking  iron,  the  small  gate  was  opened,  and 
the  elder  in  command,  with  his  cloak  thrown  over  his 
shoulders,  stepped  out  from  the  darkness  into  the  light  of 
the  lantern  and  asked  what  was  wanted.  Nekhludof 
handed  him  his  visiting  card  with  a  note,  in  which  he 
asked  the  officer  in  charge  to  see  him  on  personal  busi 
ness,  requesting  the  sergeant  to  take  this  to  the  officer. 
This  man  was  not  so  strict.  He  insisted,  however,  on 
knowing  what  personal  matter  had  brought  Nekhludof 
and  who  he  was,  evidently  scenting  prey  and  not  wishing 


202  RESURRECTION 

to  let  it  escape.  Nekhludof  said  that  he  had  some  special 
business  and  that  he  would  make  it  worth  his  while  if  he 
would  give  the  note  to  the  officer  in  charge.  The  sergeant 
took  the  note  and  went  away  nodding.  A  few  minutes 
later  the  gate  clanked  again  and  a  procession  of  women 
came  through,  carrying  baskets,  sacks,  earthen  jars,  and 
bark  pails  with  covers,  all  loudly  chattering  in  their  pecu 
liar  Siberian  dialect.  They  were  all  dressed  city  fashion 
in  cloaks  and  jackets,  their  skirts  were  tucked  up,  and 
their  heads  covered  with  kerchiefs.  By  the  light  of  the 
lantern  they  peered  curiously  at  Nekhludof  and  his  guide, 
and  one  woman,  evidently  pleased  to  meet  the  broad- 
shouldered  fellow,  affectionately  showered  on  him  a  vari 
ety  of  Siberian  oaths. 

"  What  are  you  up  to,  you  devil  ?"  she  called  out  to  him. 

"I  came  to  show  the  way  to  a  stranger,"  he  replied. 
"And  what  did  you  have  to  bring?" 

"Milk,  and  they  have  ordered  more  for  the  morning." 

"Did  they  invite  you  to  spend  the  night?"  he  asked 
her. 

"The  devil  take  you,  you  liar!"  she  called  back,  laugh 
ing.  "  Come  along  with  you  and  see  us  home." 

The  guide  said  something  more  that  made  not  only  the 
women  but  the  sentry  laugh;  then,  turning  to  Nekhludof, 
he  added : 

"You'll  find  the  way  alone?     You  won't  get  lost?" 

"No,  no,  I  shall  be  all  right." 

"  It's  the  second  house  on  your  right  after  you  pass  the 
church  and  the  two-story  house.  And  here's  a  stick  for 
you,"  he  said,  and  giving  Nekhludof  a  long  stick  taller 
than  himself,  he  disappeared  in  the  darkness  with  the 
women,  splashing  through  the  mud  with  his  heavy  boots. 

His  voice,  mingled  with  the  voices  of  the  women,  was 
still  echoing  through  the  fog  when  the  gate  clanked  and 
the  sergeant  came  out,  asking  Nekhludof  to  follow  him. 


RESURRECTION  203 


VIII. 

THIS  halting-place  was  disposed  like  all  the  others 
along  the  track  of  the  Siberian  highway.  There  were 
three  houses  standing  in  the  middle  of  a  yard  which  was 
fenced  in  by  a  high  palisade  of  pointed  sticks.  The 
largest  one  with  the  barred  windows  was  for  the  convicts, 
the  second  for  the  convoy,  and  the  third  for  the  officers  and 
the  office.  All  three  were  now  lighted,  as  is  customary 
in  those  remote  countries,  exciting  a  delusive  expectation 
of  comfort  and  enjoyment  within  their  shining  walls. 
Lanterns  were  lighted  in  front  of  the  porch,  and  about 
five  more  of  the  same  kind  hanging  against  the  walls 
lighted  the  yard.  The  under-officer  directed  Nekhludof 
along  a  plank  walk  to  the  porch  of  the  smallest  house. 
Mounting  three  steps  he  allowed  him  to  pass  into  the 
ante-room,  which  was  lighted  by  a  small  lamp  and  filled 
with  the  fumes  of  burning  charcoal.  A  soldier  in  a 
coarse  shirt,  a  necktie,  and  black  trousers,  with  but  one 
yellow-topped  boot  on,  was  bending  over  and  using  the 
top  to  the  other  boot  as  a  bellows  for  the  samovdr.  When 
he  saw  Nekhludof  he  left  the  samovdr,  helped  him  to 
take  off  his  oil-skin  coat,  and  then  went  into  the  inner 
room. 

"He  is  here,  your  honor." 

"Why  don't  you  show  him  in?"  cried  an  angry  voice. 

"You  are  to  go  in  through  this  door,"  said  the  soldier, 
returning  hastily  to  his  former  occupation. 

In  the  next  room,  which  was  lighted  by  a  hanging  lamp, 
an  officer,  with  a  long,  fair  mustache  and  a  very  red  face, 
wearing  an  Austrian  jacket  that  fitted  snugly  over  his 
massive  chest  and  shoulders,  was  seated  at  a  table, 
spread  with  the  remnants  of  dinner  and  a  couple  of 
bottles.  The  warm  room  smelled  of  tobacco  smoke  and 
another  unpleasant  odor  like  that  of  cheap  perfume. 

On  seeing  Nekhludof,  the  officer  half  rose  and  stared 


204  RESURRECTION 

at  the  newcomer  with  what  seemed  like  an  ironical  and 
suspicious  expression. 

"What  can  I  do  for  you?"  and  without  waiting  for  an 
answer  he  shouted  towards  the  door,  "Bern6f,  will  that 
samovdr  ever  be  ready  ?" 

"In  a  minute." 

"I'll  give  you  an  'in  a  minute'  that  you'll  remember," 
cried  the  officer,  his  eyes  flashing  with  wrath. 

"I  am  bringing  it  right  in!"  cried  the  soldier,  suiting 
the  action  to  the  word. 

Nekhludof  waited  until  the  soldier  had  placed  the 
samovdr  on  the  table,  while  the  officer's  wicked  little  eyes 
followed  him  out  of  the  room,  as  if  choosing  the  best  spot 
to  hit  him.  After  the  samovdr  was  on  the  table,  the  officer 
proceeded  to  make  the  tea.  Then  he  took  out  of  his 
traveling  case  a  four-cornered  decanter  and  some  Albert 
biscuits.  After  arranging  these  things  on  the  table,  he 
turned  again  to  Nekhludof. 

"How  can  I  serve  you?" 

"I  should  like  an  interview  with  one  of  the  convicts," 
replied  Nekhludof,  still  standing. 

"  Is  she  a  political  convict  ?  If  so,  it  would  be  contrary 
to  the  law." 

"No,  she  is  not  a  political  convict,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"Pray  take  a  seat,"  said  the  officer,  and  Nekhludof 
seated  himself. 

"No,  she  is  not  a  political  prisoner,"  he  repeated,  "but, 
in  deference  to  my  request,  has  been  allowed  by  the 
higher  officials  to  march  with  the  political  prisoners ' 

"Ah,  yes,  I  know.  The  little  brunette,"  interrupted 
the  officer.  "  Well,  that  will  be  all  right.  Will  you  have 
a  cigarette?" 

He  offered  Nekhludof  a  box  filled  with  cigarettes,  and 
carefully  pouring  two  tumblers  of  tea  pushed  one 
towards  Nekhludof. 

"Please,"  he  said. 

"Thank  you,  but  I  should  like  to  see " 


RESURRECTION  205 

"You'll  have  plenty  of  time  for  that;  the  night  is  long. 
I  will  send  for  her." 

"But  couldn't  I  be  taken  to  their  room?"  asked 
Nekhludof. 

"To  the  quarters  where  the  political  prisoners  are? 
That  would  be  against  the  law." 

"I  have  enjoyed  that  privilege  several  times.  If  you 
are  afraid  that  I  shall  transmit  anything  to  them,  I 
could  do  it  just  as  well  through  her." 

"No,  sir,  I  don't  think  you  could;  she  would  be 
searched,"  said  the  officer,  laughing  in  a  disagreeable 
way. 

"Well,  then  you  would  better  search  me  now." 

"No,  I  think  we'll  get  along  without  that,"  said  the 
officer,  holding  the  open  decanter  over  Nekhludof's  tea. 
"  Will  you  allow  me  ?  No  ?  Well,  just  as  you  like.  Liv 
ing  as  we  do  in  Siberia  it  is  delightful  to  meet  an  edu 
cated  gentleman.  You  need  not  be  told  what  melancholy 
work  ours  is,  and  all  the  harder  when  a  man  has  been  used 
to  a  different  sort  of  life.  People  think  that  if  one  is 
a  convoy  officer  one  must  be  rough  and  uncivilized;  they 
don't  seem  to  consider  that  a  man  may  have-  been  born 
for  other  things." 

The  officer's  red  face,  the  perfume,  the  ring  on  his 
finger,  and,  above  all,  his  unpleasant  laughter  were  re 
pulsive  to  Nekhludof.  But  to-day  he  was  in  the  same 
serious  and  thoughtful  mood  that  had  possessed  him 
during  the  entire  journey, — the  mood  that  forbade 
him  to  treat  any  human  being  with  indifference  or  con 
tempt.  He  now  believed  it  to  be  his  duty  to  be  perfectly 
in  earnest,  as  he  himself  defined  it.  So  he  listened  to  the 
officer  while  the  latter  was  explaining  his  point  of  view, 
and  then  he  spoke  seriously. 

"  I  think  that  in  your  position  one  might  find  comfort 
in  relieving  the  sufferings  of  the  men,"  he  said. 

"  What  sufferings  do  they  have  ?     They  are  a  hard  set. " 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?     They  are  just  like  everybody 


206  RESURRECTION 

else,"  said  Nekhliidof.  "And  there  are  individuals 
among  them  who  are  innocent.'* 

"Yes,  I  know  that,  of  course.  And  one  pities  them. 
Other  officers  are  strict,  but  I  always  try  to  ease  their  lot. 
Many's  the  time  I've  said  to  myself:  It's  better  for  me 
to  suffer  than  for  them.  There  are  some  officers  who, 
when  anything  goes  wrong,  apply  the  law  without  mercy. 
I've  seen  them  shoot  a  man  down;  but  I  always  feel  sorry 
for  them.  Will  you  have  some  more  tea?"  he  said, 
pouring  it  out.  "But  what  sort  of  woman  is  she,  the 
one  you  want  to  see?"  he  asked. 

"  She  is  an  unfortunate  woman  who  got  into  a  house  of 
ill  fame,  where  she  was  unjustly  accused  of  poisoning; 
and  she  is  really  a  very  good  woman,"  said  Nekhludof. 

The  officer  shook  his  head. 

"Yes,  I've  heard  of  such  things.  There  was  one  in 
Kazan,  let  we  tell  you  about  her.  Her  name  was  Emma. 
She  was  a  Hungarian  by  birth  and  had  genuine  Persian 
eyes,"  he  went  on,  no  longer  able  to  suppress  a  smile  at 
this  recollection,  "and  the  style  she  had.  My!  You'd 
have  thought  she  was  a  Countess " 

Nekhludof  interrupted  him  and  returned  to  the  former 
subject. 

"I  am  sure  it  lies  in  your  power  to  ease  the  lives  of 
these  people  while  they  are  in  your  charge.  I  know  that 
by  doing  so  you  will  become  much  happier  yourself,"  he 
said,  trying  to  pronounce  his  words  distinctly  as  though 
he  were  speaking  to  a  child  or  a  foreigner. 

The  officer  gazed  at  him  with  sparkling  eyes,  evidently 
only  waiting  for  a  pause  that  would  give  him  a  chance  to 
go  on  with  his  story  of  the  Hungarian  woman  with  the 
Persian  eyes,  who  had  become  visible  to  his  imagination 
and  absorbed  all  his  attention. 

"Yes,  that's  all  quite  true,"  he  said,  "and  I  do  pity 
them.  But  I  was  going  to  tell  you  about  that  Emma. 
What  do  you  suppose  she  did  ? ' 

"  That  does  not  interest  me,"  said  Nekhludof.     "  I  will 


RESURRECTION  207 

tell  you  frankly,  that  although  I  was  once  a  different 
man  myself,  I  now  loathe  that  sort  of  talk  about  women." 

The  officer  looked  up,  disconcerted. 

"Will  you  have  more  tea?"  he  asked. 

"No,  thank  you." 

"Bern6f,"  he  cried,  "take  this  gentleman  to  Vakulof 
and  tell  him  to  admit  him  to  the  separate  cell  of  the 
*  politicals.'  He  may  stay  there  till  the  roll  is  called." 


IX. 

ONCE  more  accompanied  by  the  orderly,  Nekhliidof 
went  out  into  the  dark  courtyard,  dimly  lighted  by  the 
red  light  of  the  lanterns. 

"  Where  are  you  bound  ?"  a  soldier  of  the  convoy  called 
to  the  orderly  who  was  accompanying  Nekhludof. 

"Separate  cell,  No.  5." 

"You  can't  go  this  way.  The  gate  is  locked.  You 
will  have  to  go  around  through  the  other  porch." 

"Why  is  it  locked?" 

"The  elder  locked  it  and  went  off  into  the  village." 

"Well,  then,  come  this  way." 

The  soldier  led  Nekhludof  along  the  board  walk  to  the 
other  entrance.  While  still  in  the  yard  one  could  hear 
the  hum  of  voices  and  a  commotion  within,  not  unlike  that 
in  a  bee-hive,  when  the  bees  are  about  to  swarm,  but  when 
Nekhludof  came  nearer  and  the  door  was  opened,  the 
humming  grew  louder  and  changed  into  the  sounds  of 
shouting,  cursing,  and  laughter,  and  added  to  this  the 
clanking  of  chains  and  that  close  and  foul  smell  peculiar 
to  ill-kept  prisons.  These  two  impressions,  the  sound  of 
the  voices  and  the  clatter  of  the  chains,  always  produced 
on  Nekhludof  a  sense  of  moral  nausea  which  was  speedily 
transformed  into  acute  physical  suffering.  Both  these 
impressions  intermingled  and  intensified  each  other. 

Entering  the  vestibule  of  the  halting-station,  where  a 


208  RESURRECTION 

large  stinking  pail,  the  so-called  "Pardshka"  was  placed, 
the  first  thing  Nekhludof  saw  was  a  woman  sitting  on  the 
edge  of  the  pail  with  a  man  standing  before  her.  His  hat 
was  awry  on  his  half-shaven  head.  They  were  talking. 
Seeing  Nekhludof,  the  convict  winked  and  said,  smiling: 

"The   Czar  himself  couldn't  hold  back  his  water." 

The  woman  drew  about  her  the  skirts  of  her  coat  and 
looked  down. 

From  the  vestibule  ran  a  corridor  into  which  the  doors 
of  the  cells  opened.  The  first  cell  was  for  families,  the 
second  for  bachelors,  and  at  the  end  of  the  corridor  were 
two  smaller  cells  for  the  political  prisoners.  Into  these 
quarters,  originally  intended  to  hold  one  hundred  and 
fifty  people,  four  hundred  and  fifty  had  been  crowded, 
—  consequently  the  convicts,  unable  to  find  room  in  the 
cells,  had  overflowed  into  the  corridor.  Some1  were  lying 
on  the  floor,  others  were  walking  to  and  fro,  carrying  tea 
pots,  either  empty  or  filled  with  boiling  water.  Among 
the  latter  was  Tarass.  He  overtook  Nekhludof  and 
greeted  him  affectionately.  The  genial  face  of  Tardss 
was  disfigured  by  bluish  bruises  on  his  nose  and  under 
one  eye. 

"What   has  happened   to   you?"   asked   Nekhliidof. 

"Oh,  nothing  in  particular,"  replied  Tarass,  smiling. 

"They  are  always  in  some  sort  of  a  brawl,"  remarked 
the  soldier,  disdainfully. 

"It  was  all  on  account  of  a  woman,"  said  a  convict, 
who  was  walking  behind  them.  "  He  fought  with  Blind 
Fe-dka." 

"How  is  Feddsya?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"She  is  all  right.  I  am  carrying  her  some  hot  water 
for  her  tea,"  said  Tarass,  and  entered  the  family  cell. 

Nekhludof  looked  in  at  the  doorway.  The  whole  cell 
was  crowded  with  men  and  women,  some  sitting  on  the 
bunks  and  others  underneath  them.  The  steam  from  dry 
ing  clothes  filled  the  air  and  one  could  hear  the  incessant 
clatter  of  women's  voices.  The  next  door  opened  into 


RESURRECTION  209 

the  bachelors'  cell.  This  was  still  more  crowded,  and  the 
door  itself  was  blocked  by  a  noisy  crowd  of  convicts  in 
wet  clothes  who  appeared  to  be  either  dividing  something 
or  settling  a  dispute  of  some  sort.  The  sergeant  explained 
to  Nekhludof  that  the  monitor  chosen  by  the  prisoners  was 
paying  money  which  might  either  have  been  lost  in  a 
game  of  cards  or  borrowed  in  advance  from  a  sharper  in 
exchange  for  small  tickets  made  from  a  pack  of  cards, 
which  the  lattei  passed  to  him.  Seeing  the  sergeant  and 
the  gentleman,  those  who  stood  nearest  stopped  talking 
as  if  annoyed  by  the  interruption. 

Among  these  recipients  of  money,  Nekhliidof  noticed 
his  acquaintance  Fedorof,  who  was  always  accompanied 
by  a  pale  and  miserable-looking  youth  with  arching  eye 
brows  and  a  swelled  face,  and  another  still  more  repulsive 
man,  a  pock-marked  tramp,  who  was  reputed  to  have 
killed  a  comrade  in  the  marshes  while  trying  to  escape,  and 
eaten  his  flesh.  This  tramp  stood  in  the  corridor  with 
a  wet  coat  thrown  over  one  shoulder,  obstructing  the 
passageway  as  he  looked  at  Nekhludof  with  an  air  of 
mocking  defiance.  Nekhludof  walked  around  him. 

Though  this  spectacle  had  become  familiar  to  Nekhlu 
dof,  for  during  the  three  months'  journey  he  had  often 
seen  the  same  four  hundred  criminal  convicts  under 
many  different  circumstances, — in  the  heat,  half-suffo 
cated  by  the  clouds  of  dust  raised  by  the  dragging  of  the 
chains  on  their  legs,  or  at  the  halting-places,  or  in  the 
prison-yards  during  warm  weather,  when  the  most 
revolting  spectacles  of  open  debauchery  were  to  be  found, 
—  and  yet  every  time  he  came  among  them,  and  their 
attention  was  centered  upon  him,  he  felt,  as  he  did  now, 
a  sense  of  shame  that  closely  resembled  guilt.  The 
worst  of  it  was  that  this  feeling  of  shame  and  guilt  was 
increased  by  an  equally  strong  sense  of  disgust  and  horror. 
While  he  realized  that,  considering  the  position  in  which 
they  were  placed,  he  had  no  right  to  expect  them  to  be 
different,  still  he  could  not  overcome  his  aversion  for 

VOL.    II. — 14 


210  RESURRECTION 

them.     Just  as  he  reached  the  door  of  the  political 
prisoners  he  heard  a  hoarse  voice  say: 

"It's  all  right  for  the  drones,"  adding  an  obscene 
epithet  to  the  words.  An  unfriendly,  sarcastic  laugh 
followed  them. 

X. 

WHEN  they  passed  the  cell  of  the  bachelors,  the  ser 
geant  who  accompanied  Nekhludof  told  him  that  he 
would  return  before  roll-call  and  went  away.  No  sooner 
had  he  gone  than  a  bare-footed  convict,  holding  on  to  his 
chains,  quickly  came  close  to  Nekhludof,  enveloping  him 
with  an  acrid  smell  of  perspiration,  and  said  to  him  in  a 
mysterious  whisper: 

"Pray,  help  us,  sir.  The  lad  is  in  trouble.  We  used 
the  money  for  liquor.  At  the  roll-call  he  answered  to  the 
name  of  Karmanof.  Do  take  his  part,  —  we  can't  do  it. 
They'll  kill  us,"  said  the  convict,  looking  around 
anxiously  as  he  walked  away. 

This  is  what  had  happened.  Convict  Karmanof  had 
persuaded  a  lad  who  resembled  him,  and  who  was  being 
exiled,  to  change  names  with  him,  so  that  he  himself 
would  be  exiled  and  the  lad  would  go  to  the  mines  in  his 
place.  Nekhludof  had  already  heard  about  the  affair, 
since  this  very  convict  had  informed  him  of  this  exchange 
about  a  week  ago.  Nekhludof  nodded  as  a  sign  that  he 
understood  and  would  do  what  he  could,  and  went  on  with 
out  looking  back.  Nekhludof  had  learned  to  know  the 
prisoner  while  in  Ekaterinburg,  where  he  had  asked  him 
to  get  a  permit  for  his  wife  to  follow  him,  and  was  sur 
prised  at  his  conduct.  He  was  a  man  of  middle  height 
and  looked  like  an  ordinary  peasant  of  thirty.  He  had 
been  condemned  to  hard  labor  for  robbery  and  murder. 
His  name  was  Makar  De>kin.  His  crime  was  an  un 
usual  one.  As  he  told  the  story  to  Nekhludof,  he  said  it 
was  not  his  doing  but  the  devil's.  A  stranger  had  come  to 


RESURRECTION  an 

the  house  of  Makar's  father  and  hired  of  him  a  conveyance 
for  two  roubles  to  take  him  to  the  next  village,  some 
forty  versts  away.  Maker's  father  told  him  to  drive. 
Makar  harnessed  the  horse,  got  ready,  and  then  he  and 
the  stranger  sat  down  to  drink  a  cup  of  tea.  While  they 
were  drinking,  the  stranger  told  Makar  that  he  was  going 
to  be  married  and  that  he  had  with  him  five  hundred 
roubles  which  he  had  earned  in  Moscow.  No  sooner  had 
Makar  heard  this,  than  he  went  out  and  hid  a  hatchet 
under  the  straw  in  the  cart.  "  I  couldn't  tell  you  myself 
why  I  took  the  hatchet,"  he  went  on.  "A  voice  said, 
'Take  the  hatchet,'  and  I  took  it.  We  started  and  went 
along  all  right.  I  had  forgotten  about  the  hatchet.  And 
so  we  went  on  until  we  were  quite  near  the  village,  about 
six  versts  away.  The  road  had  turned  from  the  cross 
road  into  the  highway,  which  led  up  a  hill.  I  got  off 
and  walked  behind  the  sleigh,  and  then  I  heard  'Him' 
whisper:  'What  are  you  thinking  about?  When  you 
get  to  the  highway  you  will  be  meeting  people  and  then 
will  come  the  village.  If  you  are  going  to  do  it,  do  it  now, 
don't  wait  any  longer.'  So  I  stooped  over  the  sleigh,  as 
though  I  wanted  to  rearrange  the  straw,  and  the  hatchet 
seemed  to  come  into  my  hands  of  itself.  The  man  looked 
back.  'What  are  you  doing?'  says  he,  and  just  as  I 
swung  the  hatchet  to  strike  him, — oh,  but  he  was  a 
nimble  fellow!  he  jumped  off  the  sleigh  and  seized  my 
hands.  'What  are  you  about,  you  villain!'  he  cried. 
He  threw  me  down  on  the  snow  and  I  never  resisted.  I 
gave  in  at  once.  So  he  tied  my  hands  with  his  girdle  and 
threw  me  into  the  sleigh.  And  so  we  drove  directly  to  the 
police  quarters.  I  was  put  in  jail  and  tried.  The  com 
mune  gave  me  a  good  character  and  said  I  had  never  done 
wrong  before.  The  people  who  had  employed  me,  also 
spoke  well  of  me.  But  I  had  no  money  to  pay  a  lawyer," 
said  Makar,  "and  so  I  was  sentenced  to  four  years  of 
hard  labor." 

And  now  this  man,  wishing  to  save  his  countryman, 


212  RESURRECTION 

though  he  knew  that  by  so  doing  he  was  risking  his  own 
life,  told  Nekhludof  a  prisoner's  secret,  which  had  it  be 
come  known,  would  have  cost  him  his  life. 

XL 

THE  quarters  of  the  political  prisoners  consisted  of  two 
small  cells  whose  doors  opened  into  that  part  of  the  cor 
ridor  which  was  separated  from  the  rest.  The  first  person 
to  greet  Nekhludof  when  he  entered  the  corridor  was 
Simonson,  who  with  a  pine  stick  in  his  hands  was  crouch 
ing  in  front  of  a  stove,  whose  iron  door  was  shaken  by  the 
powerful  draft  inside.  He  did  not  rise  when  he  saw 
Nekhludof,  but  remained  in  his  crouching  attitude,  and 
only  stretched  out  one  hand,  looking  up  at  him  from  under 
his  overhanging  brows. 

"I  am  glad  you  have  come.  I  wanted  to  see  you,"  he 
said,  with  a  glance  full  of  meaning,  looking  directly  at 
Nekhludof. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"  I'll  tell  you  later.  I  am  busy  just  now."  And  Simon- 
son  again  devoted  himself  to  the  stove.  He  had  his  own 
private  theory  about  building  fires  in  such  a  way  as  to 
preserve  all  the  heat  that  was  possible. 

Nekhludof  was  about  to  pass  through  the  first  door, 
when  Maslova  came  out  of  the  other.  She  was  stooping 
over  a  short  birch  broom,  sweeping  before  her  a  lot  of  dust 
and  refuse  towards  the  oven.  She  wore  a  white  sack,  her 
skirt  was  tucked  up,  and  she  had  no  shoes  on  her  feet. 
Her  head  was  enveloped  in  a  kerchief,  which  came  down 
to  her  eyebrows  to'  protect  her  from  the  dust.  On  seeing 
Nekhludof,  she  rose  to  her  full  height,  and  flushed  and 
animated  as  she  was,  she  put  down  the  birch  broom  and 
wiping  her  hands  on  her  skirt,  stopped  directly  in  front  of 
him. 

"I  see  you  are  putting  your  house  in  order,"  said 
Nekhludof,  extending  his  hand. 


RESURRECTION  213 

"Yes,  my  old  occupation,"  she  answered,  smiling. 
"You  can't  imagine  how  dirty  it  is.  We  have  scrubbed 
and  scrubbed.  .  .  .  And  is  your  plaid  dry  ?"  she  asked, 
turning  to  Simonson. 

"  Almost,"  said  Simonson,  looking  at  her  in  a  peculiar 
way,  which  attracted  Nekhludof's  attention. 

"  Well,  I'll  come  and  get  it  and  bring  the  coats  that  are 
to  be  dried.  Our  people  are  all  in  here,"  she  said  to 
Nekhludof,  pointing  towards  the  nearer  door,  while  she 
herself  went  on  to  the  further  one. 

Nekhludof  opened  the  door  and  entered  a  narrow  cell, 
feebly  lighted  by  a  small  metallic  lamp  that  stood  on  the 
lower  bunk.  The  room  felt  cold  and  smelled  of  damp 
ness,  dust,  and  tobacco.  The  tin  lamp  threw  a  glaring 
light  on  those  who  were  near  it,  but  the  bunks  were  most 
of  them  in  the  dark,  and  wavering  shadows  flitted  along 
the  walls. 

Everyone  was  here,  except  two  men,  who  acted  as  cater 
ers  and  had  gone  for  provisions  and  boiling  water.  Here 
was  Nekhludof's  old  friend,  Vera  Efremovna,  grown  still 
more  yellow  and  thinner  than  ever,  with  her  large,  fright 
ened  eyes  and  the  vein  that  stood  out  on  her  forehead. 
Her  hair  was  cut  short  and  she  wore  a  gray  sack.  A  sheet 
of  newspaper,  with  tobacco  on  it,  lay  before  her,  and  in  her 
jerky  way  she  was  stuffing  it  into  empty  cigarette  cases. 

Here  was  also  one  of  the  political  prisoners  whom 
Nekhludof  liked  best,  Emily  Rantzeva,  who  had  charge  of 
the  housekeeping,  to  which  she  managed  to  lend  a  fem 
inine  charm  even  under  these  most  trying  conditions. 
She  sat  near  the  lamp,  and  with  clean,  sunburnt  hands 
and  sleeves  rolled  up,  was  busily  engaged  in  deftly  wiping 
and  placing  on  a  towel,  which  she  had  spread  across  the 
bunk,  the  mugs  and  teacups.  Rantezeva  was  not  a  good- 
looking  young  woman,  but  she  had  an  intelligent  and 
gentle  expression  and  her  countenance  was  transformed  as 
if  by  magic  whenever  she  smiled.  She  now  greeted 
Nekhludof  with  one  of  those  bewitching  smiles. 


214  RESURRECTION 

"We  thought  you  must  have  gone  back  to  Russia  for 
good,"  she  said. 

Here,  in  a  distant  corner  he  discovered  Marya  Pav- 
lovna  busy  with  a  fair-haired  little  girl,  who  kept  on 
prattling  in  her  sweet,  childish  voice. 

"How  nice  it  is  that  you  have  come.  Have  you  seen 
K£tya?"  she  asked  Nekhludof.  "But  you  must  see  our 
new  guest,"  she  added,  pointing  to  the  little  girl. 

Here  was  also  Anatole  Kryltz6f.  Emaciated  and  pale, 
he  sat  bent  over  and  shivering,  his  feet  clad  in  felt  boots 
doubled  under  him,  in  a  distant  corner  of  a  bunk,  his 
hands  tucked  into  the  sleeves  of  his  sheepskin  coat,  watch 
ing  Nekhliidof  with  feverish  eyes.  Nekhludof  started  to 
go  towards  him,  when  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  door 
he  caught  sight  of  the  pretty,  smiling  Grabe'tz,  talking  to  a 
red-haired,  curly-headed  man  in  spectacles  and  a  rubber 
jacket,  who  was  sorting  something  in  a  sack.  This  was 
the  famous  revolutionist,  Novodv6rof,  whom  Nekhludof 
hastened  to  greet.  He  was  in  particular  haste  to  do  this, 
because  Novodvdrof  was  the  only  man  of  all  the  political 
prisoners  in  the  gang  whom  Nekhludof  disliked.  Novod- 
vdrof's  eyes  sparkled  as  he  looked  up  at  Nekhludof, 
frowning  and  offering  him  his  narrow  hand. 

"  Do  you  enjoy  this  kind  of  a  journey  ?"  he  asked,  with 
evident  irony. 

"Yes,  there  is  much  of  interest,"  replied  Nekhludof, 
pretending  not  to  notice  the  irony,  but  taking  the  question 
as  a  token  of  friendly  feeling,  and  going  on  to  Kryltz6f. 

Outwardly,  Nekhludof  seemed  indifferent  to  Novod- 
vdrof ,  but  in  his  heart  he  was  far  from  feeling  so.  What 
Novodvdrof  had  said  and  his  evident  desire  to  do  and  say 
something  unpleasant  to  Nekhludof  discouraged  that 
spirit  of  kindliness  which  possessed  Nekhludof,  and  made 
him  feel  sad  and  depressed. 

"  Well,  how  is  your  health  ?"  he  said,  pressing  Kryltz6f  s 
cold  and  trembling  hand. 

"Pretty  good,  only  I  can't  get  warm;  I  was  soaked  till 


RESURRECTION  215 

I  was  chilled  through,"  said  Kryltz6f,  hurriedly  hiding 
his  hand  in  his  coat-sleeve.  "It's  beastly  cold  here.  Look 
at  those  broken  window-panes."  He  pointed  at  the  two 
broken  panes  of  glass  behind  the  iron  bars.  "  And  how 
are  you  ?  Where  have  you  been  all  this  time  ?" 

"  I  couldn't  get  admittance.  The  authorities  are  very 
strict.  It  was  only  to-day  that  I  came  upon  a  lenient 
officer." 

"  Lenient !  Was  he !  You  ask  Masha  what  he  did  this 
morning." 

Without  leaving  her  seat,  Marya  Pavlovna  told  what 
had  happened  that  morning  to  the  little  girl  as  they  were 
starting  on  their  journey. 

"I  believe  the  best  thing  for  us  to  do  would  be  to 
protest  in  a  body,"  said  Vera  Efremovna.  Her  voice 
sounded  determined,  but  as  she  glanced  from  one  face  to 
another  her  eyes  betrayed  both  indecision  and  alarm. 
"  Vladimir  has  made  a  protest,  but  that  is  not  enough." 

"What  kind  of  a  protest?"  asked  Kryltzdf,  with  a 
grimace.  It  was  evident  that  Ve*ra  Efremovna 's  artificial 
tone  of  voice  and  her  nervous  manner  had  tried  him  for 
some  time.  "Are  you  looking  for  Katya?"  he  asked 
Nekhludof.  "She  works  and  scrubs  from  morning  till 
night.  They  have  cleaned  our  bachelors'  quarters. 
Now  they  are  cleaning  the  women's  room.  Of  course 
they  can't  get  rid  of  the  fleas.  And  what  is  Masha  doing 
there?"  he  asked,  nodding  his  head  towards  the  corner 
where  Marya  Pavlovna  was  sitting. 

"  She  is  combing  out  her  adopted  daughter's  hair,"  said 
Rantzeva. 

"But  she  won't  let  the  vermin  loose?"  asked  Kryltzdf. 

"No,  no,  never  fear.  I  am  very  careful.  She  is  quite 
clean  now,"  said  Marya  PaVlovna.  "There,  you  may 
take  her  now,"  she  added,  addressing  Rantzeva.  "I  am 
going  to  help  Katya  now,  and  I  will  bring  his  plaid 
also." 

Rantzeva  took  the  child  and  pressing  her  plump  little 


216  RESURRECTION 

bare  arms  to  her  bosom,  she  lifted  her  into  her  lap  and 
gave  her  a  lump  of  sugar. 

As  Marya  Pavlovna  went  out,  two  men,  bringing  provi 
sions  and  boiling  water,  entered  the  cell. 

One  of  the  newcomers  was  a  tall,  slender  youth  in  a 
fur-lined  cloth  coat  and  tall  boots.  He  walked  with  a 
light,  quick  step  and  carried  two  steaming  teapots  filled 
with  hot  water,  and  a  loaf  of  bread  wrapped  in  a  kerchief 
under  his  arm. 

"And  here  is  our  Prince,"  he  said,  setting  the  teapot 
down  among  the  teacups  and  handing  the  loaf  to  Maslova. 
"We  have  brought  you  some  fine  things,"  he  said,  taking 
off  his  coat  and  tossing  it  over  the  heads  of  the  others  into 
a  corner  bunk.  "  Markel  bought  eggs  and  milk.  We'll 
have  a  feast  to-day.  And  Kirillovna  is  still  cleaning 
house,"  he  said,  looking  at  Rantzeva  with  a  smile.  "  Now, 
then,  start  the  tea,"  he  said  to  her. 

Good  cheer  and  merriment  breathed  from  this  man's 
face,  his  movements,  and  the  sound  of  his  voice.  The 
other  newcomer  was  exactly  the  reverse.  He  was  short 
and  skinny,  with  projecting  cheek-bones,  thin  lips,  and  a 
sallow  complexion;  but  he  had  beautiful  greenish  eyes 
set  rather  far  apart.  He  seemed  gloomy  and  dejected. 
He  wore  an  old  quilted  coat  and  rubbers  over  his  boots. 
He  brought  in  two  earthen  jars  and  two  small  cylinder- 
shaped  birch-bark  pails.  Depositing  his  load  before 
Rantzeva,  he  gave  Nekhludof  a  jerky  nod,  and  fixed  his 
eyes  on  him,  then  reluctantly  extending  his  clammy  hand 
he  greeted  him  and  began  to  take  the  provisions  from  the 
basket. 

Both  of  these  political  prisoners  belonged  to  the  people. 
The  first  was  a  peasant,  Nabatof,  the  other  a  factory  hand, 
Markel  Kondratief.  The  latter  had  been  swept  into  the 
revolutionary  movement  after  he  was  thirty-five  years  of 
age,  while  Nabatof  had  joined  it  at  eighteen.  Selected 
for  his  brilliant  examinations  from  the  rural  school,  to 
continue  his  studies  in  a  public  school,  Nabdtof  graduated 


RESURRECTION  217 

with  a  gold  medal,  all  the  while  supporting  himself  by 
teaching.  But  he  did  not  enter  the  University,  because 
he  was  still  a  student  in  the  seventh  form  of  the  public 
school;  he  made  up  his  mind  to  return  to  the  class  from 
which  he  had  sprung,  in  order  to  enlighten  his  neglected 
brothers.  He  carried  out  his  intention.  At  first  he  was 
a  clerk  in  a  large  village,  but  was  soon  arrested  for  reading 
books  to  the  peasants  and  for  starting  an  industrial 
co-operative  league.  He  was  imprisoned  but  released 
after  eight  months,  and  permitted  a  certain  degree  of 
freedom,  but  he  was  constantly  under  police  surveillance. 
No  sooner  was  he  at  liberty,  than  he  went  to  a  village  in 
another  Government,  and  obtaining  the  position  of  school 
master  renewed  his  former  activities.  He  was  arrested 
for  the  second  time  and  kept  in  prison  a  year  and  two 
months,  which  served  but  to  strengthen  his  former 
convictions. 

After  his  second  experience  in  prison  he  was  exiled  to 
the  Perm  Government,  from  which  he  escaped.  Again 
he  was  arrested  and  exiled  to  the  Archangel  Government. 
He  also  escaped  from  there,  but  was  caught  and  sentenced 
to  be  exiled  to  the  Yakutsk  District.  In  fact  he  had  spent 
half  of  his  adult  life  in  prison  and  in  exile.  But  all  these 
adventures  had  not  embittered  him  in  the  least,  neither 
had  they  diminished  his  energy, — if  anything,  they 
seemed  to  have  increased  it.  He  was  naturally  an  ener 
getic  man,  with  a  good  digestion,  always  active,  merry, 
and  vigorous.  He  never  wasted  time  dreaming  of  the 
irreparable  past,  never  looked  far  into  the  future,  but  with 
all  his  mental  faculties,  with  his  cleverness  and  his  com 
mon  sense,  he  lived  in  the  present.  When  he  was  free 
he  worked  for  the  aim  that  he  had  in  view — the  civiliza 
tion  and  the  union  of  the  working  men,  especially  of  the 
peasant  class.  And  even  when  he  was  in  prison  he 
behaved  with  the  same  practical  common  sense  and 
energy  in  his  relations  with  the  outside  world,  because  he 
wanted  to  improve  the  conditions  not  only  of  his  own  life, 


si8  RESURRECTION 

but  of  the  lives  of  the  people  about  him.  First  and  foremost 
he  was  a  communist.  He  seemed  to  want  nothing  for 
himself  and  could  be  contented  with  very  little,  but  for 
his  comrades  he  demanded  much.  He  could  do  either 
brain  work  or  manual  labor  incessantly,  day  and  night, 
without  food  or  sleep.  He  was  industrious  as  a  peasant, 
intelligent,  quick  at  his  work,  naturally  temperate  and 
polite,  attentive  not  only  to  the  wishes  but  also  to  the 
opinions  of  others.  His  widowed  mother,  an  aged, 
illiterate,  and  superstitious  peasant,  was  still  living,  and 
Nabatof  helped  her  and  visited  her  whenever  he  was  free. 
When  at  home  he  entered  into  her  life,  helped  her  in  her 
work,  and  always  kept  in  touch  with  his  former  peasant 
playmates.  He  smoked  cheap  tobacco  with  them  from 
the  so-called  dog's  leg,1  took  part  in  their  fisticuffs,  and 
tried  to  make  them  understand  how  they  had  always  been 
cheated  and  how  they  must  make  an  effort  to  free  them 
selves  from  the  delusions  in  which  they  had  been  kept. 
When  he  thought  and  spoke  of  what  a  revolution  would 
do  to  benefit  the  people,  he  had  always  in  mind  the  class 
from  which  he  himself  sprang,  living  under  the  same 
conditions  as  at  present,  only  possessing  more  land  and 
free  from  the  authority  of  the  nobility  and  the  bureau 
cracy.  In  his  opinion  revolution  would  not  change  the 
fundamental  forms  of  the  life  of  the  people — he  differed 
in  this  respect  from  Novodvdrof  and  his  follower,  Markel 
Kondr£tief.  He  did  not  believe  that  the  revolution  for 
which  he  was  working  ought  to  destroy  the  main  frame 
work,  but  only  to  make  certain  changes  in  the  interior 
arrangements  of  this  noble  and  permanent  old  structure 
that  he  loved  so  well. 

In  his  religious  views  he  was  also  a  typical  peasant. 
He  had  never  considered  metaphysical  problems,  like  the 
creation  of  worlds  or  the  future  life.  To  him  as  to  Arago, 
God  was  a  hypothesis,  for  whom,  until  the  present  time, 
he  had  felt  no  need.  He  cared  very  little  how  the 

1  A  dog's  leg  is  a  piece  of  paper  bent  at  one  end  in  the  shape  of  a  cigarette, 
smoked  by  peasants  and  mechanics. 


RESURRECTION  219 

Universe  had  come  into  existence,  according  to  Moses  or 
according  to  Darwin,  and  this  Darwinism  which  seemed 
to  be  of  such  importance  to  his  friends  was  as  much  a 
plaything  of  the  mind  as  the  story  of  the  creation  in  six 
days. 

The  question  of  the  origin  of  the  world  did  not  interest 
him  just  because  the  other  question,  how  to  live  as  best 
one  may,  was  always  in  his  mind.  He  never  thought  of  a 
future  life,  having  inherited  from  his  ancestors  the  firm 
belief,  common  to  all  who  till  the  soil,  that  as  in  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  nothing  is  lost  but  only 
changed  from  one  form  to  another,  as  manure  is  changed 
into  grain  and  grain  into  fowl,  or  a  tadpole  develops  into 
a  frog,  or  the  worm  into  a  butterfly,  or  the  acorn  into  an 
oak, — neither  is  man  annihilated,  but  simply  undergoes 
a  change.  He  believed  this,  and  that  was  why  he  faced 
death  and  the  physical  suffering  that  usually  /precedes  it, 
with  stoicism.  But  he  never  liked  to  speak  on  these 
topics,  because  he  did  not  know  how  to  express  himself. 
He  was  fond  of  work  and  was  always  occupied  with  prac 
tical  affairs  and  encouraged  his  mates  to  follow  his 
example. 

The  other  political  prisoner,  Markel  Kondratief ,  was  a 
man  of  a  different  type.  He  began  to  work  when  he  was 
fifteen  and  also  to  smoke  and  to  drink  in  order  to  stifle  a 
dim  sense  of  oppression.  He  had  been  conscious  for  the 
first  time  of  this  feeling  when  with  others  of  his  age  he 
was  invited  to  a  Christmas  tree  that  the  manufacturer's 
wife  had  arranged  for  the  children  and  where  he  and  his 
little  friends  received  an  apple,  a  fig,  a  gilded  walnut,  and 
a  whistle  that  cost  one  copeck,  while  to  the  children  of 
the  mill-owner  were  given  playthings  that  seemed  to  have 
come  from  fairyland,  and  as  he  was  told  afterward  had 
cost  fifty  roubles.  He  was  about  thirty  years  old,  when  a 
famous  revolutionist  became  employed  as  a  factory  hand, 
and  noticing  his  unusual  ability  she  furnished  him  with 
books  and  pamphlets  and  explained  to  him  the  causes  of 


RESURRECTION 

his  condition  and  the  means  of  improving  it.  When  he 
clearly  understood  the  chance  of  becoming  a  free  man 
and  of  setting  others  free  from  this  state  of  bondage  in 
which  he  had  lived,  he  realized  more  than  ever  its  hard 
ships  and  injustice.  He  longed  passionately  not  for  his 
freedom  alone,  but  for  retaliation  on  those  who  had  been, 
instrumental  in  establishing  these  social  conditions  and 
who  were  interested  in  keeping  them  up.  He  was  told 
that  knowledge  offered  this  chance,  and  Kondratief  de 
voted  himself  with  ail  his  might  to  its  acquisition.  He 
could  not  fully  comprehend  how  the  realization  of  a  com 
munistic  ideal  was  to  be  attained  through  knowledge,  but 
he  believed  that  as  knowledge  had  disclosed  to  him  the 
injustice  of  the  present  state  of  things,  it  would  also  be 
able  to  abolish  it.  Moreover,  knowledge  had  already 
raised  him  to  a  higher  plane;  therefore  he  gave  up  smok 
ing  and  drinking, — and  as  since  his  promotion  to  the 
post  of  keeper  he  had  more  time  to  spare,  he  devoted 
every  minute  of  it  to  its  acquisition. 

The  revolutionist  who  gave  him  lessons  was  struck  by 
the  wonderful  intelligence  that  enabled  him  to  absorb  so 
much  knowledge  on  such  a  variety  of  subjects.  In  two 
years  he  had  mastered  algebra,  geometry,  history,  of 
which  he  was  specially  fond,  had  read  the  works  of  many 
writers  on  art  and  critical  essayists,  but  above  all,  every 
thing  he  could  find  on  sociology. 

The  revolutionist  girl  was  arrested  and  Kondratief  also, 
for  having  forbidden  books  in  their  possession;  he  was 
sent  to  jail  and  later  on  to  the  V61ogda  Government. 
There  he  became  acquainted  with  Novodvorof ,  continued 
reading  revolutionary  books,  remembered  everything 
that  he  had  read,  and  became  a  more  enthusiastic  advo 
cate  of  socialism  than  ever.  After  the  term  of  his  exile 
had  expired  he  was  the  acknowledged  organizer  of  a 
strike  which  ended  in  the  destruction  of  a  factory  and  the 
assassination  of  its  director.  And  again  he  was  arrested 
and  exiled. 


RESURRECTION  221 

His  views  on  religion  were  as  negative  as  his  views  on 
the  existing  economic  conditions.  Realizing  the  absurd 
ity  of  the  religion  in  which  he  was  reared  he  abandoned  it, 
first  with  certain  scruples,  but  later  with  joy,  and  ever 
after,  as  though  to  revenge  himself  for  the  deception  that 
had  been  practiced  on  his  ancestors  and  on  himself,  he 
bitterly  ridiculed  priests  and  religious  dogmas. 

By  force  of  habit  he  had  become  a  Spartan  and  was 
satisfied  with  little;  like  any  man  who  has  been  in  the 
habit  of  working  from  childhood  and  whose  muscles  are 
developed  he  could  work  quickly  and  easily,  and  perform 
any  kind  of  manual  labor;  he  prized  leisure  and  while  in 
prison  used  it  for  self-improvement.  Now  he  was  care 
fully  studying  Marx  and  carried  the  first  volume  around 
with  him  in  his  bag,  with  the  greatest  care.  With  the 
exception  of  Novodvdrof,  to  whom  he  was  very  devoted 
and  whose  judgments  on  all  subjects  he  accepted  as  law 
and  gospel,  he  treated  his  comrades  with  reserve  and 
indifference. 

He  had  a  great  contempt  for  women  and  believed  them 
to  be  a  hindrance  in  all  important  matters.  But  he  pitied 
Ma"slova  as  an  example  of  the  methods  used  by  the  upper 
classes  in  their  dealings  with  the  lower  classes.  He  dis 
liked  Nekhludof  for  the  same  reason;  he  never  cared  to 
talk  with  him,  neither  would  he  press  his  hand  but  only 
extended  his  own  whenever  Nekhludof  greeted  him. 

XIII. 

THE  wood-fire  had  burned  up  brightly  and  the  stove 
was  heated,  the  tea  was  ready  and  poured  into  mugs  and 
tumblers  and  milk  had  been  added  to  it. 

Fresh  rye  and  wheat  bread,  bardnkisf  hard-boiled 
eggs,  butter,  calf's  head  and  feet  were  all  spread  out  upon 
the  cloth.  Every  one  moved  up  towards  the  bunk  which 
was  used  as  a  table  and  began  eating,  drinking,  and  talk- 

1  Bread  baksd  in  the  shape  of  rings.  —  TR. 


222  RESURRECTION 

ing.  Rdntzeva,  who  served  the  tea,  sat  on  a  box.  The 
others  crowded  around  her,  with  the  exception  of 
Kryltzdf,  who,  having  taken  off  his  wet  sheepskin  coat, 
was  lying  on  his  bunk  covered  with  a  dry  plaid. 

After  the  cold,  damp  journey,  the  mud,  and  the  disorder 
they  had  found  here,  and  the  work  of  getting  everything 
in  order,  by  the  time  they  had  swallowed  the  hot  tea  and 
eaten  the  food,  every  one  felt  cheerful  and  happy. 

The  very  fact  of  hearing  the  heavy  tramp  of  feet  accom 
panied  by  cries  and  abuse  on  the  other  side  of  the  wall, 
which  reminded  them  of  their  surroundings,  seemed  to 
increase  their  personal  sense  of  comfort.  Like  mariners 
during  a  lull  -in  the  storm,  these  people  no  longer  felt 
themselves  swamped  by  the  abuse  and  suffering  heaped 
upon  them,  but  were  somewhat  exhilarated  and  excited. 
Everything  was  discussed,  except  what  related  to  their 
own  lot  or  awaited  them  in  the  future.  And  then,  as  so 
often  happens  when  young  men  and  women  are  brought 
together  by  force  of  circumstances,  as  those  people  had 
been,  currents  of  sympathy  or  antipathy  had  sprung  up 
between  them.  Most  of  them  were  in  love. 

Novodvorof  was  in  love  with  the  pretty,  smiling  Gra- 
b6tz.  She  had  been  a  student  in  "Courses  for  Women" 
but  her  mental  faculties  were  still  undeveloped,  and  she 
was  in  reality  quite  indifferent  to  revolutionary  ideas.  But 
swayed  by  the  influences  of  the  times  she  had  been  some 
how  compromised  and  as  a  result  exiled.  And  here  her 
chief  interest  in  life  was  her  success  with  men,  just  as  it 
had  been  when  she  was  free.  It  had  been  the  same 
during  the  examinations,  in  the  prison,  and  in  exile.  Now 
during  the  journey  she  was  pleased  that  Novodvdrof  had 
become  infatuated  with  her,  and  she,  after  her  fashion, 
returned  his  love.  Vera  Efremovna,  who  fell  in  love  very 
easily,  did  not  so  easily  arouse  this  sentiment  in  others; 
yet  she  was  ever  hopeful  and  loved  Nabdtof  or  Novodvdrof 
by  turns.  Kryltzof's  feelings  towards  Marya  P£vlovna 
were  something  akin  to  love.  He  loved  her  as  men  love 


RESURRECTION  223 

women,  but  knowing  her  ideas  about  love  he  carefully 
concealed  his  feelings  under  the  guise  of  friendship  and 
gratitude  for  her  tender  care  of  him. 

Nabatof  and  Rantzeva  were  united  by  a  very  complex 
bond  of  affection.  Like  Marya  Pavlovna,  who  was  the 
most  chaste  of  women,  Rantzeva  was  the  most  chaste  of 
wives.  While  still  a  girl  of  sixteen  she  had  fallen  in  love 
with  Rantzef,  who  was  then  a  student  at  the  Petersburg 
University,  and  at  nineteen,  while  he  was  still  a  student, 
she  had  married  him.  In  the  fourth  year  of  his  college 
life  he  became  involved  in  disorders  prevalent  among  the 
students  at  that  time,  was  expelled  from  Petersburg,  and 
became  a  revolutionist.  She  also  gave  up  her  studies  of 
medicine,  followed  him,  and  became  a  revolutionist  like 
himself.  If  her  husband  had  not  been  the  man  she 
believed  him  to  be — the  best  and  wisest  man  in  the  world 
—  she  wouldn't  have  loved  him,  and  if  she  hadn't  loved 
him  she  couldn't  have  married  him.  But  loving  and 
having  married  the  best  and  wisest  of  men,  she  naturally 
looked  at  life  and  its  aims  through  his  eyes,  and  like  him 
became  a  revolutionist.  She  could  argue  very  clearly  and 
plausibly  that  the  existing  order  of  things  cannot  continue, 
and  that  it  is  every  man's  duty  to  oppose  it  and  endeavor  to 
establish  a  condition  of  society  both  political  and  economic 
which  will  allow  every  individual  a  certain  freedom  of 
development,  etc.  And  she  really  believed  that  she 
thought  and  felt  this  herself,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  she 
thought  that  what  her  husband  believed  was  the  absolute 
truth  and  she  longed  but  for  one  thing,  which  was  a  com 
plete  agreement,  a  union  with  his  soul  that  alone  would 
give  her  entire  satisfaction. 

The  parting  from  her  husband  and  the  child,  which  she 
entrusted  to  the  care  of  her  mother,  had  been  unspeakably 
painful.  But  she  bore  it  bravely  without  a  murmur, 
because  she  was  bear  ing  it  for  her  husband's  sake  and  the 
work  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life,  and  which  she 
believed  to  be  right  because  he  did  it.  She  was  always 


224  RESURRECTION 

with  her  husband  in  her  thoughts  and  he  was  the  only 
man  she  had  ever  loved.  But  Nabatof's  pure  and  devoted 
love  touched  and  troubled  her.  He,  her  husband's 
friend,  was  a  high-minded,  firm,  and  moral  man,  who 
treated  her  like  a  sister,  although  in  his  manner  towards 
her  a  new  element  sometimes  showed  itself,  which  although 
it  served  to  cheer  their  hard  lives,  was  somewhat  alarming 
in  its  nature.  So  that  Marya  Pavlovna  and  Kondrdtief 
were  the  only  persons  in  this  group  who  were  not  in  love. 


XIV. 

DEPENDING  on  the  private  talk  with  Katusha  which  he 
was  accustomed  to  having  after  tea  and  supper,  Nekhludof 
sat  chatting  with  Kryltzdf.  Among  other  things  Nekhlu 
dof  told  him  the  story  of  Makar's  crime  and  how  the 
latter  had  begged  Nekhludof  to  help  him.  Kryltz6f 
listened  attentively,  fixing  his  shining  eyes  on  Nekhludof. 

"Yes,"  he  said,  in  reply  to  Nekhludof 's  look  of  inquiry, 
"I  often  think  that  we  are  marching  side  by  side  with 
*  them,'  the  identical  men  for  whose  sake  we  are  enduring 
exile,  and  yet  we  do  not  wish  to  know  them.  While  they 
are  still  more  inimical  to  us;  they  hate  us  and  consider  us 
their  enemies.  It  is  this  that  makes  it  so  terrible." 

"There  is  nothing  terrible  in  that,"  said  Novodvdrof, 
who  was  listening  to  the  conversation.  "The  masses 
always  worship  power,"  he  said  in  his  rasping  voice. 
"The  Government  has  the  power  and  they  worship  it; 
if  we  should  have  the  power  to-morrow  they  would 
worship  us." 

Just  then  an  outburst  of  curses  and  a  dufl  thud  of 
bodies  flung  against  the  wall,  the  clanking  of  chains,  shrill 
cries,  and  shouts  became  audible. 

Some  one  was  knocked  down,  and  some  one  was  shout 
ing,  "Murder!" 

"Listen  to  those  beasts!     What  intercourse  can  there 


RESURRECTION  225 

be    between    them    and   ourselves?"   calmly  remarked 
Novodvdrof. 

"Do  you  call  them  beasts?  And  only  a  few  minutes 
ago  Nekhliidof  was  telling  me  of  an  act  that  —  "  said 
Kryltzdf,  irritated,  and  he  went  on  to  relate  the  story  of 
Maklr,  who  risked  his  life  to  save  a  fellow-villager. 

"There  is  heroism  for  you." 

"Sentimentality,  you  mean,"  retorted  Novodvdrof,  sar 
castically.  "It's  impossible  for  us  to  understand  either 
the  emotions  of  those  men  or  their  motives.  You  call  it 
an  act  of  generosity,  whereas  it  may  only  have  been  jeal 
ousy  of  the  other  convict." 

"Why  is  it  that  thou  dost  never  wish  to  see  anything 
good  in  others!"  exclaimed  Mdrya  Pavlovna,  excitedly. 
She  used  the  intimate  "  thou"  to  all  of  them. 

"I  can't  see  what  isn't  there." 

"  Why  isn't  it  there,  if  a  man  voluntarily  runs  the  risk 
of  a  terrible  death?" 

"I  believe,"  said  Novodvorof,  "that  if  we  are  anxious 
to  do  our  work,  the  first  condition  is  that  —  "  (Kondratief, 
who  was  reading  by  lamplight,  put  down  his  book  and 
began  to  listen  attentively  to  his  teacher)  — "  we  ought 
not  to  give  free  rein  to  our  imagination,  but  look  at  things 
as  they  are;  we  ought  to  do  all  we  can  for  the  masses  and 
expect  nothing  in  return;  we  work  in  behalf  of  the  masses, 
but  they  cannot  work  with  us  so  long  as  they  are  as  inert 
as  they  are  to-day,"  he  began,  as  though  he  were  on  the 
platform;  "therefore  it  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare  to  ex 
pect  help  from  them  until  they  have  become  civilized 
according  to  the  instructions  we  are  now  giving  them." 

"And  what  kind  of  civilization  may  that  be?"  asked 
Kryltzof,  flushing.  "We  affirm  that  we  are  against  an 
arbitrary  government  and  against  despotism,  and  would, 
not  that  be  a  terrible  form  of  despotism  ?" 

"  Not  at  all,"  replied  Novodvorof,  calmly.  "  I  only  said 
that  I  know  the  path  that  the  people  must  travel  and  can 
indicate  it." 

VOL.    II. — 15 


226  RESURRECTION 

"  But  how  can  you  be  sure  that  it  is  the  right  path  ?  Is 
not  this  the  very  same  form  of  despotism  that  has  pro 
duced  inquisitions  and  the  crimes  of  the  French  Revolu 
tion  ?  They  also  followed  the  instructions  of  science  — 
the  science  of  their  day." 

"  The  fact  that  they  were  in  error  does  not  prove  that 
I  am  wrong;  and  then  there  is  a  great  difference  between 
the  dreams  of  idealists  and  the  axioms  of  political  econ 
omy."  Novodvdrof's  voice  filled  the  room.  He  was  the 
only  speaker,  the  rest  were  silent. 

"These  everlasting  disputes!"  remarked  Marya  Pav- 
lovna,  when  he  paused  for  a  moment. 

"And  what  is  your  opinion?"  asked  Nekhludof  of  Marya 
Pavlovna. 

"  I  believe  that  Anatole  is  right,  and  that  we  ought  not 
to  force  our  own  ideas  on  the  people." 

"And  what's  your  opinion,  Katusha?"  asked  Nekhlu 
dof,  smiling,  fearful  lest  she  might  give  an  inappropriate 
answer. 

"I  think  that  the  common  people  are  very  much 
abused,"  she  said,  blushing  scarlet,  "very  much  abused." 

"  True,  Mikhailovna !  Very  true !"  exclaimed  Nabatof . 
"  The  people  are  shamefully  abused.  And  this  must  not 
go  on.  This  is  the  work  we  have  to  do." 

"That's  a  strange  idea  concerning  the  problems  of 
revolution,"  said  Novodvdrof,  and  began  to  smoke  in 
silence. 

"I  cannot  talk  with  him,"  whispered  Kryltz<5f,  and  he 
too  became  silent. 

"It  is  much  wiser  not  to  talk  with  him,"  said  Nekhlu 
dof. 

XV. 

ALTHOUGH  Novodvdrof  was  a  clever  and  well-informed 
man,  who  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  among  the  revolu 
tionists,  Nekhliidof  considered  him  to  be  morally  on  a 


RESURRECTION  227 

lower  plane  than  himself.  His  mental  ability,  his  numer 
ator,  so  to  speak,  was  high;  but  his  self-esteem,  his  de 
nominator,  was  so  exaggerated  that  it  had  long  since  un 
balanced  his  mental  ability.  In  his  inner  life  he  was  an 
entirely  different  type  from  Simonson.  Simonson  was  of 
that  masculine  type  of  MAN  whose  thoughts  guide  their 
actions,  whereas  Novodvdrof  was  of  a  feminine  type,  a  man 
whose  thoughts  are  chiefly  bent  upon  attaining  some 
object  which  is  the  offspring  of  emotion,  or  upon  the 
justification  of  acts  which  have  resulted  therefrom. 

All  of  Novodvorof  s  revolutionary  activity  which  he  so 
eloquently  and  convincingly  expounded,  appeared  to 
Nekhliidof  to  be  based  on  arrogance  and  a  wish  to  be  a 
leader  of  men.  At  first,  during  his  school  years,  owing  to 
his  ability  to  assimilate  and  clearly  express  the  thoughts 
of  others  —  a  gift  that  both  teachers  and  scholars  highly 
esteem  —  he  was  well  pleased  with  himself  both  in  the 
Gymnasia  and  in  the  University  where  he  received  his 
degree  of  B.  S.  But  after  he  had  received  his  diploma 
and  was  no  longer  a  student,  this  supremacy  came  to  an 
end.  He  changed  his  views  altogether,  and  as  Kryltz6f, 
who  was  not  fond  of  Novodvdrof,  told  Nekhludof,  he 
changed,  and  in  order  to  retain  his  leadership,  from  a 
moderate  Liberal  he  became  a  " Narodovoletz"  Owing 
to  the  absence  of  esthetic  and  moral  principles,  that  fre 
quently  are  the  cause  of  doubts  and  hesitation,  he  succeeded 
in  a  short  time  in  acquiring  in  revolutionary  circles  a 
position  that  satisfied  his  ambition,  and  became  the  leader 
of  a  party.  Having  once  chosen  his  vocation  he  never 
doubted  or  hesitated  and  was  therefore  certain  that  he 
could  make  no  mistake.  Everything  seemed  plain  and 
clear  to  him.  And  owing  to  the  limitations  of  his  horizon, 
to  him  all  things  were  plain  and  simple.  All  that  was 
necessary,  as  he  said,  was  but  to  be  logical.  His  self- 
confidence  was  so  gross  that  it  must  either  repel  or  subdue 
mankind.  And  as  his  activity  was  displayed  before  the 
eyes  of  a  young  generation  who  mistook  his  boundless 


228  RESURRECTION 

self-assurance  for  depth  and  wisdom,  the  majority  fell 
under  his  influence  and  his  success  in  revolutionary  circles 
became  established.  His  work  at  present  was  to  prepare 
an  insurrection  during  which  he  proposed  to  seize  the 
reins  of  government  and  call  together  a  council  which  was 
to  consider  the  program  he  had  originated.  And  he  was 
perfectly  sure  that  this  program  had  solved  every  problem, 
and  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  dispense  with  it. 

His  comrades  respected  him  for  his  daring  and  decision, 
but  they  did  not  love  him.  Neither  did  he  love  any  one. 
He  regarded  all  talented  men  as  his  rivals;  if  he  could, 
he  would  gladly  have  treated  them  as  old  male  mon 
keys  treat  their  young  ones.  If  they  stood  in  his  way 
and  their  luster  cast  his  talents  into  the  shade,  he  would 
like  to  have  the  power  to  destroy  their  mental  faculties. 
He  treated  with  consideration  only  those  who  bowed  down 
before  him.  On  the  journey  he  had  been  gracious  to 
Kondratief,  a  laborer,  absorbed  in  his  propaganda,  to 
V£ra  Efremovna,  to  the  pretty  Grabetz,  both  of  whom 
were  in  love  with  him.  In  principle  he  believed  in  wom 
en's  rights,  but  at  the  bottom  of  his  soul  he  considered  all 
women  silly  and  insignificant,  except  those  with  whom 
he  happened  to  be  in  love  in  a  sentimental  fashion,  as  he 
was  just  now  in  love  with  Grabetz.  Such  women  he 
considered  extraordinary  and  he  was  the  only  man  who 
had  discovered  their  merits. 

The  question  of  relations  between  the  sexes,  like  all 
other  questions,  seemed  to  him  very  simple  and  clear,  to 
be  solved  in  his  opinion  by  the  recognition  of  free  love. 
He  had  two  wives,  one  nominal,  the  other  lawful,  whom 
he  had  left  because  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
there  was  no  true  love  between  them;  and  now  he  was 
about  to  contract  a  free  marriage  with  Grabetz. 

He  despised  Nekhludof,  because,  as  he  expressed  it, 
he  posed  before  Maslova,  and  particularly  because  he 
allowed  himself  to  dwell  on  the  defects  of  the  existing 
order  of  things  and  of  the  means  for  improving  it, 


RESURRECTION  229 

—  not  word  for  word,  as  he,  Novodvdrof  did,  but  in 
his  own  " princely  "  way,  that  is,  like  a  fool.  Nekhlddof 
was  aware  of  Novodv<5rof's  opinion  of  him,  but  to  his 
sincere  sorrow  he  realized  that  in  spite  of  his  own  feel 
ings  of  good- will  during  the  journey  towards  all  men, 
he  was  paying  him  back  in  his  own  coin  and  that  he 
was  quite  unable  to  suppress  his  strong  antipathy  for 
this  man. 

XVI. 

THE  voices  of  the  authorities  were  heard  from  the  next 
room.  All  were  silent  when  the  sergeant  accompanied  by 
two  soldiers  entered  the  room. 

It  was  the  roll-call.  The  sergeant  counted  the  con 
victs,  pointing  his  finger  at  each  person.  When  he  saw 
Nekhludof,  he  said  to  him  with  kind-hearted  familiarity : 

"You  can't  stay  here  any  longer,  Prince.  It's  time 
for  you  to  go." 

Knowing  by  experience  what  that  meant,  Nekhludof 
went  up  to  him  and  slyly  put  a  three-rouble  note,  prepared 
for  the  occasion,  into  his  hand. 

"Well,  I  suppose  I  shall  have  to  humor  you;  you  may 
stay  on  a  while  longer." 

As  he  was  going  out  another  sergeant,  followed  by  the 
tall,  thin  convict  with  the  bruised  eye  and  the  thin  beard, 
came  in. 

"I  came  to  see  about  the  girl,"  he  said. 

"  There  is  daddy !"  cried  a  clear  little  voice,  and  a  blond- 
haired  head  peeped  from  behind  Rantzeva's  back.  Ka- 
tiisha,  Marya  Pavlovna,  and  Rdntzeva  were  all  there, 
busily  sewing  on  a  new  frock  for  the  child,  made  from  an 
old  skirt  that  Rantzeva  had  given  for  the  purpose. 

"It's  me,  daughter,  me,"  said  Buz6vkin,  gently. 

"She  is  all  right  here,"  said  Mdrya Pavlovna,  sympa 
thetically  glancing  at  Buz6vkin's  bruises.  "Let  her 
stay  here." 


230  RESURRECTION 

"The  ladies  are  making  me  a  new  frock,"  said  the  girl, 
pointing  to  Rantzeva's  sewing.  "A  fine  red  frock,"  she 
chattered. 

"Would  you  like  to  spend  the  night  with  us?"  asked 
Ra"ntzeva,  caressing  the  child. 

"Yes,  I  do  want  to.     And  daddy,  too." 

A  broad  smile  lit  up  Rantzeva's  features. 

"  No,  daddy  can't  stay  here.  You  had  better  leave  her 
with  us,"  she  said  to  the  father. 

"  You  may  as  well  keep  her,"  said  the  sergeant,  pausing 
in  the  doorway  before  he  went  out. 

As  soon  as  the  soldiers  had  gone  Naba"tof  went  up  to 
Buzovkin  and  putting  his  hand  on  his  shoulder  asked : 

"Is  it  true,  my  boy,  that  Karmanof  wants  to  ex 
change?" 

Buzdvkin's  kind  face  grew  sad  and  a  dimness  came  over 
his  eyes. 

"We  don't  know  anything  about  it.  I  hardly  think 
so,"  he  said  with  the  same  expression.  "  Well,  Aksiitka, 
I  suppose  you'll  stay  with  the  ladies,"  he  added,  and  made 
haste  to  leave. 

"He  knows  well  enough.  They  have  already  ex 
changed.  What  will  they  do  about  it  ?" 

"I  will  inform  the  authorities  when  we  come  to  the 
next  town,"  replied  Nekhludof. 

No  one  replied,  anxious  lest  the  controversy  might  be 
renewed. 

Simonson,  who  had  not  spoken  and  had  remained  lying 
in  a  corner  all  the  evening  with  his  hands  behind  his  head, 
rose  with  a  look  of  determination,  and  walking  carefully, 
so  as  not  to  disturb  the  others,  went  up  to  Nekhludof, 
saying : 

"  May  I  speak  to  you  now  ?" 

"Certainly,"  replied  Nekhliidof  and  rose  to  follow 
him.  Seeing  Nekhludof  rise  and  meeting  his  eyes, 
Katusha  blushed  and  shook  her  head. 

"This  is  what  I  want  to  tell  you,"  said  Simonson,  when 


RESURRECTION  231 

he  and  Nekhliidof  went  out  into  the  corridor.  Here  the 
noise  and  the  shouting  voices  of  the  " criminals"  were 
quite  distinct.  Nekhliidof  frowned,  but  evidently  this 
made  no  impression  on  Simonson. 

"Knowing  your  relations  to  Katerina  Mikhdilovna," 
he  began  in  an  earnest,  straightforward  way,  his  kind  eyes 
looking  directly  into  Nekhludofs,  "I  consider  it  my 
duty  — "  he  continued  and  came  to  a  standstill,  because 
the  quarrelsome  voices  shouted  at  once  very  close  to  the 
door. 

"I  tell  you  it  doesn't  belong  to  me,  you  wooden 
head!' 

"May  it  choke  you,  you  devil,"  shouted  the  other 
hoarse  voice. 

Just  then  Mdrya  PaVlovna  came  out. 

"You  can't  talk  here,"  she  said.  "Come  in  this  way. 
Ve'ra  is  there  alone." 

She  led  the  way  to  a  tiny  cell  set  aside  for  the  use  of 
political  prisoners  of  her  own  sex.  Vera  Efremovna  was 
lying  in  a  bunk  with  her  head  covered. 

"  She  has  a  headache.  She  can't  hear  you  because  she 
is  asleep,  and  I  am  going  away,"  said  Marya  PaVlovna. 

"Please  don't,"  said  Simonson.  "I  have  no  secrets 
from  any  one  and  of  course  none  from  you." 

"Very  well,"  said  Marya  Pdvlovna,  getting  into  her 
bunk;  and  pushing  herself  up  like  a  child,  she  sat  gazing 
into  space  with  her  beautiful,  mild  eyes. 

"Now  this  is  what  I  have  to  tell  you,"  resumed  Simon- 
son.  "Knowing  your  relations  with  Katerina  Mikhdil- 
ovna,  I  consider  myself  in  duty  bound  to  explain  to  you 
my  own  relations  with  her." 

"Wonderful,"  said  Marya  Paylovna,  turning  her  eyes 
until  they  rested  on  Simonson. 

"I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  ask  her  to  marry  me," 
continued  Simonson. 

"But  what  have  I  to  do  with  this?  That's  her  own 
affair,"  said  Nekhludof. 


232  RESURRECTION 

"Very  true;  but  she  will  not  decide  this  question  until 
she  has  consulted  you." 

"Why  not?" 

"Because  until  the  question  of  your  mutual  relations 
is  definitely  settled,  she  can  make  no  choice  for  her 
self." 

"It  is  settled  so  far  as  I  am  concerned.  I  considered  it 
my  duty  to  offer  her  marriage  and  I  also  wanted  to  make 
her  more  comfortable.  But  I  would  not,  on  any  account, 
stand  in  her  way." 

"That  may  be  so,  but  she  is  not  willing  to  accept  youi 
sacrifice." 

"It  is  no  sacrifice." 

"Her  determination  is  not  to  be  shaken;  of  that  I  am 
absolutely  certain." 

"  Well,  then,  what  is  the  use  of  talking  about  it  ?"  asked 
Nekhludof. 

"  She  must  be  certain  that  you  feel  as  she  does  on  this 
subject." 

"How  can  I  admit  that  I  ought  not  to  perform  a  duty 
when  I  know  that  I  ought  to  perform  it  ?  The  only  thing 
I  can  say  is  that  I  am  not  free  to  do  as  I  please,  but  that 
need  not  prevent  her  from  doing  as  she  pleases." 

Simonson  was  silent,  plunged  in  thought. 

"Very  well,  I  will  tell  her  so.  You  must  not  think  for 
a  moment  that  I  am  in  love  with  her,"  he  went  on.  "I 
respect  and  admire  her  as  an  exceptional  woman  who  has 
had  to  endure  extreme  suffering,  and  I  like  her  too;  but 
I  am  disinterested,  and  I  wish  to  help  her,  to  lighten  her 
lot  in  life." 

Nekhludof  was  surprised  to  notice  the  tremor  in  Simon- 
son's  voice. 

"To  lighten  her  lot,"  repeated  Simonson.  "Though 
she  might  have  scruples  about  accepting  your  offer,  she 
would  feel  differently  about  me,  and  if  she  consented  to 
marry  me,  I  should  ask  to  be  exiled  to  her  place  of  des 
tination.  Four  years  are  not  an  eternity.  I  should  stay 


RESURRECTION  233 

with  her,  and  perhaps  I  could  make  her  lot  less  hard  to 
bear — "  he  paused  again  from  agitation. 

"  What  reply  can  I  make  ?"  asked  Nekhludof.  "  I  am 
thankful  that  she  has  found  a  protector  in  you." 

"That  is  exactly  what  I  wished  to  know,"  continued 
Simonson.  "I  was  anxious  to  know  whether,  loving 
her  as  you  do,  and  wishing  for  her  happiness,  you  would 
consider  our  marriage  desirable." 

"I  certainly  do,"  replied  Nekhliidof,  emphatically. 

"It  all  depends  on  her;  I  only  long  to  comfort  a  suffer 
ing  soul,"  said  Simonson,  gazing  at  Nekhludof  with  an 
expression  of  childlike  tenderness  that  could  hardly  have 
been  expected  from  this  gloomy-looking  man. 

He  rose  and  taking  Nekhludof's  hand,  drew  his  face 
towards  him  and  with  a  bashful  smile  kissed  him. 

"Then  I  shall  tell  her  so,"  he  said,  and  left. 

XVII. 

"  WELL,  what  do  you  say  now  ?  Why,  he  is  in  love, 
very  much  in  love.  I  should  never  have  believed  that 
Vladimir  Simonson  would  have  fallen  in  love  like  a  boy. 
Wonderful!  And  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  can't  help  feeling 
that  I  am  sorry,"  remarked  Marya  Pavlovna. 

"But  what  do  you  think  Katya  will  say  to  it?"  asked 
Nekhludof. 

"  Kdtya  ?"  Marya  Pavlovna  paused,  evidently  not  wish 
ing  to  give  a  hasty  answer.  "But  you  must  have  dis 
covered  that  in  spite  of  her  past  life  she  is  one  of  the  most 
moral  of  women.  .  .  .  And  she  has  such  refined  feelings. 
.  .  .  She  loves  you  with  a  pure  and  unselfish  love  and  it 
makes  her  happy  to  think  that  she  is  able  to  do  you  the 
negative  good  of  saving  you  from  a  legal  union  with  her 
self.  A  marriage  with  you  would  seem  to  her  a  serious 
fall,  far  more  than  the  misfortune  of  her  girlhood,  and  for 
this  reason  she  will  never  consent  to  it." 

"So  I  am  to  disappear?"  said  Nekhludof. 


234  RESURRECTION 

Mdrya  Pdvlovna  smiled  her  sweet,  childlike  smile. 

"  Yes,  as  a  figure  of  speech." 

"And  how  is  that  process  to  be  managed?" 

"I  have  been  talking  nonsense,"  said  Marya  Pavlovna, 
"but  what  I  meant  to  say  was  that  she  sees  the  absurdity 
of  his  so-called  platonic  love  —  he  has  never  spoken  of  it 
to  her,  you  know  —  and  while  it  gratifies,  it  also  worries 
her.  You  know  I  am  not  an  authority  in  such  matters 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  nothing  more  or  less  than 
the  ordinary  sexual  emotion  on  his  part,  though  it  may  be 
masked.  It  is  true  that  he  says  this  love  brings  out  his 
energy  and  he  thinks  it  platonic.  But  I  am  sure  even 
if  he  does  think  so,  there  must  be  something  disgusting 
underneath  —  just  like  what  is  going  on  between  Novod- 
v6rof  and  Luba." 

Marya  Pdvlovna,  being  tempted  to  discuss  her  favorite 
topic,  had  wandered  from  the  main  question. 

"What  am  I  expected  to  do?"  asked  Nekhludof. 

"I  think  you  ought  to  tell  her.  It's  always  better  to 
come  to  a  plain  understanding.  Talk  to  her;  I  will  call 
her.  Shall  I  ?"  asked  Marya  Pavlovna. 

"If  you  will  be  so  good,"  said  Nekhludof,  and  M£rya 
P&vlovna  left  the  room. 

A  strange  feeling  took  possession  of  Nekhludof  when 
he  was  alone  in  the  little  cell,  listening  to  Vera  Efre*movna's 
even  breathing,  and  to  the  din  that  came  from  the  crim 
inals'  quarters,  two  doors  beyond. 

What  Simonson  had  confided  to  him  relieved  Nekhlu 
dof  from  the  obligation  he  had  voluntarily  assumed,  but 
which  had  sometimes  in  moments  of  weakness  seemed  diffi 
cult  and  distasteful.  At  the  same  time  he  felt  a  certain 
disappointment  that  Simonson's  offer  should  in  a  way 
have  impaired  the  sublimity  of  his  own  intentions,  and  by 
depreciating  them  in  the  eyes  of  others  as  well  as  in  those 
of  Nekhludof  himself,  diminished  the  value  of  the  sacrifice 
which  he  had  intended  to  offer.  If  a  man,  and  such  a 
worthy  man  as  Simonson,  was  anxious  to  join  his  fate  to 


RESURRECTION  235 

that  of  Katusha,  his  own  sacrifice  could  never  have  been 
so  great  as  it  seemed.  The  simple  feeling  of  jealousy 
was  also  a  factor  in  the  case.  He  was  so  accustomed  to 
thinking  that  she  loved  him,  that  it  was  not  easy  to  realize 
that  she  could  ever  love  another  man.  And  moreover 
there  was  the  consequent  overthrow  of  his  plan  to  remain 
near  her  during  the  term  of  her  exile.  If  she  married 
Simonson  his  presence  would  become  superfluous  and  he 
would  have  to  make  other  plans. 

As  he  was  turning  all  these  thoughts  in  his  mind  to  the 
accompaniment  of  the  roar  of  the  prisoners'  voices,  some 
thing  unusual  was  happening  in  their  quarters.  Katusha 
suddenly  entered  the  cell  and  with  a  quick  step  ap 
proached  Nekhliidof. 

"  M&rya  Pdvlovna  sent  me,"  she  said,  stopping  close  to 
him. 

"Yes,  I  have  something  to  say  to  you.  Sit  down. 
Vladimir  Ivdnovitch  has  told  me." 

She  seated  herself,  folding  her  hands  on  her  knees,  and 
seemed  calm,  but  no  sooner  had  Nekhludof  said  these 
words  than  a  flush  suffused  her  cheeks. 

"What  did  he  tell  you  ?"  she  asked. 

"He  told  me  that  he  wanted  to  marry  you." 

Suddenly  her  face  took  on  that  shriveled  look  that 
betokens  distress.  She  made  no  reply,  but  dropped  her 
eyes. 

"  He  asked  for  my  consent  or  my  advice.  I  told  him  it 
all  depended  on  you;  that  you  must  decide  for  your 
self." 

"  But  why  must  I  decide  ?"  she  exclaimed,  squinting  at 
Nekhludof  in  a  way  peculiar  to  her  that  had  always  im 
pressed  him.  For  several  moments  they  remained  thus, 
face  to  face.  The  glances  thus  exchanged  made  many 
things  clear,  both  to  Nekhludof  and  to  Katusha  herself. 

"You  must  decide,"  repeated  Nekhludof. 

"Why  should  I  decide?"  she  repeated.  "It  was  all 
decided  long  ago." 


236  RESURRECTION 

"  But  now  you  must  decide  whether  you  will  accept  the 
offer  of  Vladimir  Ivanovitch,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"  What  sort  of  a  wife  should  I  make  ?  A  convict  like 
me!  Why  should  I  injure  Vladimir  Ivanovitch  also?" 
she  asked  with  a  frown. 

"But  suppose  you  were  to  be  pardoned  ?"  said  Nekhlu 
dof. 

"  Oh,  please,  leave  me  in  peace !  I  have  nothing  more  to 
say,"  she  exclaimed  and  left  the  room. 

XVIII. 

WHEN  Nekhludof  followed  Katusha  into  the  men's  cell, 
there  was  great  excitement  there.  Nabdtof,  who  was 
about  everywhere,  who  knew  them  all  and  noticed  every 
thing,  had  brought  surprising  news.  He  had  found  on  a 
wall  a  note  written  by  Petlin,  one  of  the  Revolutionists 
who  had  been  sentenced  to  hard  labor.  Every  one  sup 
posed  that  Petlin  reached  Kar£  long  ago,  but  here  was  a 
proof  that  he  had  just  passed  this  way  with  a  gang  of 
criminal  prisoners. 

"  On  the  seventeenth  day  of  August,"  thus  ran  the  note, 
"I  was  sent  on  alone  with  the  criminal  prisoners.  Neverof 
who  had  been  with  me  hanged  himself  in  the  Insane 
Asylum  at  Kazdn.  I  am  hale  and  hearty  and  hope  for 
better  days." 

All  discussed  Pe*tlm's  case  and  the  causes  that  had  led  to 
Neve"rof  s  suicide.  Kryltzof  alone  remained  silent  and 
sat  looking  into  space  with  a  preoccupied  expression  of 
countenance  and  sparkling  eyes. 

"  My  husband  told  me  that  Neve*rof  saw  ghosts  when  he 
was  in  the  PetropaVlovsk  Fortress,"  said  Rdntzeva. 

"Yes,  he  is  a  poet,  a  man  of  fancies;  such  people  can't 
stand  solitary  confinement,"  said  Novodvdrof.  "When  I 
was  in  solitary  confinement,  I  did  not  allow  my  imagina 
tion  to  work,  but  divided  my  time  in  a  systematic  way; 
that's  why  I  could  endure  it  so  well." 


RESURRECTION 


237 


"  Why  shouldn't  you  ?  I  was  often  very  glad  to  be 
safely  in  prison,"  said  Nabatof  briskly,  wishing  to  dispel 
the  gloomy  atmosphere.  "  When  one  is  free  one  is  for 
ever  anxious  lest  he  implicate  some  of  his  friends  or  get 
himself  into  trouble  and  do  more  harm;  but  once  he  is 
caught  and  locked  up,  his  responsibility  ends.  You  may 
rest  then!  All  you  have  to  do  is  just  to  sit  still  and 
smoker 

"  You  knew  him  well  ?"  asked  M&rya  Pdvlovna,  looking 
uneasily  at  Kryltz6f's  altered,  haggard  face. 

"Did  I  hear  you  call  Nev£rof  a  dreamer?"  Kryltzdf 
spoke  rapidly  with  bated  breath  as  though  he  had  been 
speaking  or  singing  for  a  long  time.  "Neve'rof  was  the 
kind  of  man  'the  like  of  whom  earth  seldom  produces/  as 
our  door-keeper  expressed  it.  Yes —  he  was  as  clear  as 
crystal;  you  could  see  through  him.  He  couldn't  even  dis 
semble,  and  a  lie  was  to  him  inconceivable.  He  was  more 
than  sensitive, — his  nerves  were  on  the  surface.  Yes, 
he  was  a  complex  and  rich  nature,  not  such  a  one  as — 
We  mustn't  talk  about  it!"  he  paused. 

"Here  we  spend  our  time  discussing  higher  matters," 
he  said,  frowning  with  displeasure,  "whether  we  ought 
first  to  educate  the  people  and  then  change  the  general  con 
ditions  of  life,  or  whether  we  would  better  begin  by  chang 
ing  the  conditions  of  life,  and  then  the  eternal  question  of 
our  methods  of  fighting.  Are  they  to  be  by  arbitration 
or  propaganda  or  terrorism  ?  Yes,  we  go  on  discussing, 
but  they  never  discuss;  they  know  their  business  and  are 
perfectly  indifferent  whether  men  perish  by  tens  or  by 
thousands,  and  such  men!  On  the  contrary  it  serves 
their  purpose  when  the  best  men  do  perish,  as  Herzen  ex 
pressed  it,  that  when  the  Decembrists  were  eliminated  the 
general  level  was  lowered !  Of  course  it  was.  Then  Her 
zen  and  his  friends  were  eliminated.  Now,  it's  a  man 
like  Neve'rof." 

"They  can't  suppress  us  all;  there  will  always  be 


238  RESURRECTION 

enough  left  to  propagate  the  race,"  said  Nabdtof,  in  his 
cheerful  voice. 

"No,  there  won't  be  any  left,  if  we  continue  to  spare 
them/'  said  Kryltz6f,  raising  his  voice  and  refusing  to  be 
interrupted.  "Give  me  a  cigarette." 

" Please  don't  smoke.  It's  not  good  for  you,  Anatole," 
said  Mdrya  Pdvlovna. 

"Oh,  let  me  alone,"  he  exclaimed  irritably,  and  lit  the 
cigarette.  But  a  coughing  spell  interrupted  him  and  he 
seemed  to  be  at  the  point  of  vomiting,  but  after  spitting, 
he  continued:  "No,  we  do  not  do  the  right  thing.  In 
stead  of  wasting  our  time  on  discussions,  we  ought  to  have 
banded  together  and  annihilated  them." 

"  But  they  are  human  beings  after  all,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"  No,  they  are  not.  Men  who  can  do  such  things  as  they 
have  done  have  ceased  to  be  human —  They  say  that 
bombs  and  air-ships  have  been  invented.  We  ought  to  go 
up  in  their  balloons  and  pelt  them  with  bombs,  as  though 
they  were  bugs,  until  every  one  of  them  is  exterminated 
— "  he  began,  but  a  paroxysm  of  coughing  seized  him, 
he  turned  scarlet  and  the  blood  gushed  from  his  mouth. 

Nabdtof  ran  to  get  some  snow.  Marya  Pavlovna  offered 
him  Valerian  drops,  but  gasping  and  with  eyes  closed, 
he  pushed  her  away  with  his  thin,  white  hand.  When  the 
snow  and  cold  water  had  checked  the  bleeding,  and  he 
had  been  made  comfortable  for  the  night,  Nekhludof  bade 
them  all  good-by  and  departed  with  the  sergeant,  who  had 
been  waiting  for  some  time. 

The  criminal  convicts  had  quieted  down  and  most  of 
them  were  asleep.  Although  the  men  were  lying  both  on 
and  under  their  bunks  as  well  as  outside  in  the  passage 
ways,  still  there  was  not  room  enough  for  all  and  some 
were  asleep  on  the  floor  of  the  corridor  with  their  heads 
resting  on  their  sacks  and  their  damp  cloaks  thrown  over 
them.  The  snoring,  groaning,  and  muttering  formed  one 
continuous  sound  that  seemed  to  proceed  from  every  direc 
tion,  where  lay  long  rows  of  human  bodies  wrapped  in 


RESURRECTION  239 

their  prison  cloaks.  Only  a  few  men  in  the  bachelors' 
criminal  quarters  were  still  up,  sitting  in  a  corner  by  the 
light  of  a  candle  end  which  they  blew  out  at  once  when  they 
saw  the  soldier  approaching.  One  old  man  in  the  corridor, 
directly  under  the  light  of  the  lamp,  was  sitting  naked, 
trying  to  pick  the  fleas  from  his  shirt.  In  comparison 
with  the  foul  atmosphere  the  air  in  the  cell  of  the  political 
prisoners  seemed  actually  pure.  The  light  of  the  smoking 
lamp  shone,  as  it  were,  through  a  mist  and  it  was  hard  to 
breathe.  In  order  to  pass  along  the  corridor  without  step 
ping  upon  or  jostling  against  some  sleeper,  one  had  to 
choose  with  the  utmost  care  the  few  unencumbered  resting- 
places  for  the  soles  of  his  feet.  Three  men  who  had  ap 
parently  not  been  able  to  find  room  in  the  corridors  were 
lying  on  the  floor  of  the  ante -room,  close  to  the  foul-smell 
ing  and  leaking  tub.  One  of  them  was  an  old  imbecile 
whom  Nekhludof  had  frequently  noticed  at  the  halting- 
stations,  the  other  a  ten-year-old  boy.  He  was  lying  be 
tween  two  convicts  with  his  hand  under  his  cheek,  resting 
his  head  on  the  leg  of  one  of  the  sleepers. 

When  Nekhludof  passed  the  gate,  he  stopped  for  some 
time  and  inhaled  deep  draughts  of  the  frosty  air. 

XIX. 

THE  stars  were  out  when  Nekhludof,  walking  cautiously 
over  the  frozen  mud,  that  yielded  now  and  then  to  the 
pressure  of  his  feet,  returned  to  his  inn.  He  knocked  at  a 
dark  window  and  a  bare-footed,  broad-shouldered  work 
man  opened  the  door  and  let  him  in.  The  sound  of  the 
loud  snoring  of  the  drivers  came  from  the  living  room  on 
the  right.  Numerous  horses  were  heard  crunching  their 
oats  out  in  the  yard.  From  the  spare  room  on  the  left  the 
odors  of  wormwood  and  perspiration  reached  the  nostrils, 
while  the  ear  was  deafened  by  the  stertorous  breathing  of 
some  heavy  sleeper.  A  red  glass  lamp  with  its  burning 
wick  stood  before  the  ikon.  Nekhludof  undressed, 


24o  RESURRECTION 

spread  his  plaid  over  the  oil-cloth  sofa,  arranged  his  leather 
pillow,  and  lay  down,  to  think  over  all  that  he  had  seen 
and  heard  during  the  day.  To  him,  the  most  painful 
spectacle  of  all  was  the  small  boy  asleep  on  the  floor  where 
the  contents  of  the  tub  had  oozed  out,  with  his  head  resting 
on  a  prisoner's  leg. 

In  spite  of  the  unforeseen  and  important  talk  he  had 
had  with  Simonson  and  Kattisha  this  evening,  he  did  not 
dwell  upon  that.  His  attitude  would  naturally  be  more  or 
less  complicated  and  indefinite  and  therefore  he  did  not 
care  to  think  of  it;  but  the  sight  of  all  those  miserable 
creatures,  stifling  in  the  putrid  atmosphere  and  sleeping 
on  the  foul  oozing  contents  of  the  tub,  and  above  all  the 
innocent  face  of  the  boy  with  his  head  on  the  prisoner's 
leg,  could  not  be  driven  from  his  mind. 

It  was  one  thing  to  know  that  somewhere,  far  away, 
there  are  men  who  inflict  torture  upon  their  fellow-beings, 
subjecting  them  to  every  kind  of  suffering  and  degrada 
tion,  and  quite  another  to  have  been  for  three  months  an 
eye-witness,  like  Nekhludof,  of  indescribable  torture  and 
agony.  During  the  course  of  these  three  months  Nekhlu 
dof  had  often  asked  himself :  Am  I  the  madman  who  sees 
what  others  do  not  see,  or  are  they  the  madmen  who  cause 
all  this  suffering  ?  And  it  was  those  men  of  whom  he  was 
thinking — and  a  multitude  they  were  —  who  had  author 
ized  the  conditions  he  had  so  lately  witnessed  here.  And 
the  most  amazing  and  hopeless  part  of  it  was,  that  they 
still  went  on  with  what  was  manifestly,  in  their  opinion, 
an  important  and  useful  work  that  must  not  be  neglected. 
It  was  certainly  hard  to  believe  that  they  were  mad,  and 
still  he  could  not  believe  himself  mad,  realizing  as  he  did 
the  clearness  of  his  own  reasoning.  This  never  ceased  to 
perplex  him.  What  he  had  seen  during  these  three 
months  had  left  this  picture  impressed  upon  his  mind. 
From  among  all  those  men  who  were  living  at  large,  the 
courts  and  governments  had  selected  the  most  nervous  and 
the  most  highly  excitable  individuals,  mentally  gifted,  but 


RESURRECTION  241 

less  crafty  and  less  cautious  than  the  others  who  were  still 
at  large,  but  who  were  not  a  whit  more  guilty  or  more 
dangerous  to  society.  These  were  locked  up  in  jails, 
exiled,  sentenced  to  hard  labor,  or,  as  was  often  the  case, 
they  were  confined  for  months  and  years  in  utter  idleness; 
they  were  supported,  but  were  debarred  from  all  the  de 
lights  of  the  natural  world,  the  comforts  of  domestic  life, 
and  the  pleasures  of  a  congenial  occupation.  This  was 
the  first  primary  result  of  his  observations.  Secondly, 
these  people  were  subjected  to  all  sorts  of  degradations  in 
the  prisons  where  they  were  confined;  they  wore  fetters, 
their  heads  were  shaven,  they  were  clothed  in  prison  rai 
ment,  and  thereby  deprived  not  only  of  their  self-respect, 
but  of  regard  for  public  opinion, — a  factor  by  no  means 
negligible  where  men  of  weak  characters  are  concerned. 
Thirdly,  they  lived  oppressed  by  continual  fear  of  what 
might  happen.  Not  to  mention  exceptional  accidents,  such 
as  sunstrokes,  drowning,  fire,  epidemics,  bodily  exhaus 
tion, —  the  result  of  cruel  treatment,  —  they  were  thereby 
reduced  to  that  state  of  mind  which  often  leaves  the  kind 
est  and  most  moral  of  men  to  commit,  and  to  excuse  others 
for  committing,  the  most  cruel  and  shocking  crimes,  merely 
from  the  instinct  of  self-preservation.  Fourthly,  these 
men  were  obliged  to  associate  with  ruffians  and  assassins, 
men  debauched  by  evil  living,  who  acted  like  a  leaven 
among  those  who  still  remained  uncorrupted  by  the  treat 
ment  to  which  they  had  been  subjected.  And  finally  and 
fifthly,  the  principle  of  cruelty  as  a  means  of  personal 
advantage  was  instilled  into  them  by  the  most  convincing 
of  methods,  namely, — by  cruelties  practiced  upon  them 
selves,  by  the  torture  of  old  men,  women,  and  children,  by 
blows  and  floggings,  by  rewarding  those  who  capture 
fugitives  and  bring  them  back,  dead  or  alive,  by  separating 
husbands  from  their  lawful  wives  and  uniting  them  to  the 
wives  of  other  men,  by  shooting  or  hanging.  If  the  govern 
ment  employs  these  methods  where  its  own  advantage  is 
concerned,  why  should  these  same  methods  be  objection- 

VOL.    II. — 16 


242  RESURRECTION 

able  for  individuals  who  are  deprived  of  their  freedom, 
who  are  in  want  and  misery  ? 

These  institutions  seemed  to  have  been  founded  for  the 
special  purpose  of  producing  the  essence  of  vice  and 
debauch,  unthinkable  under  any  other  conditions,  in  order 
that  this  essence  might  later  be  disseminated  broadcast 
among  the  people.  It  really  seemed  to  have  become  a 
problem  how  to  debauch  and  corrupt  as  many  persons  as 
possible  in  the  shortest  and  safest  way,  thought  Nekhliidof, 
as  he  studied  prison  life  in  jails  and  in  exile. 

By  these  methods,  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men  be 
came  depraved,  and  when  their  degradation  was  fully  ac 
complished,  they  were  set  free  for  the  purpose  of  scattering 
this  depravity  broadcast  over  the  land. 

Nekhliidof  now  realized  the  success  which  had  crowned 
the  efforts  of  society  to  reach  its  aim.  He  saw  its  results 
in  the  jails  of  Tumen,  Ekaterinburg,  Tomsk,  and  at  the 
halting-stations  on  the  way.  The  commonplace,  simple, 
everyday  men  with  the  standards  of  Russian  peasant-life, 
of  Christian  morality,  abandoned  their  old-time  principles 
and  adopted  the  modern  prison  standards,  which  consisted 
mainly  in  justifying  every  form  of  violence  and  outrage 
when  such  acts  seemed  advantageous  to  themselves.  Men 
who  had  been  inmates  of  prisons  came  to  realize  that, 
judging  by  what  they  themselves  had  suffered,  all  those 
moral  laws  of  compassion  and  pity  for  man  preached  by 
the  Church  and  by  teachers  of  morality  were  in  reality  set 
aside  and  that  therefore  they  also  might  disregard  them. 
Nekhliidof  saw  evidences  of  this  in  the  behavior  of  every 
convict  he  knew,  in  Fedorof,  Makar,  and  even  Tarass, 
who  after  two  months  of  prison  life  had  shocked  Nekhlii 
dof  by  the  immorality  of  his  opinions.  On  the  journey 
Nekhliidof  had  discovered  how  the  vagrants  when  escap 
ing  into  the  Taiga,1  had  persuaded  their  comrades  to 
escape  with  them,  and  then  murdered  them  and  eaten 
their  flesh.  He  saw  a  man  who  had  been  accused  of  this 

1  Siberian  marshes  and  forests. 


RESURRECTION  243 

and  confessed  it.  And  the  most  terrible  fact  of  all  was, 
that  such  cases,  so  far  from  being  exceptional,  were  but 
too  common. 

Only  by  the  special  cultivation  of  vice  such  as  is  prac 
ticed  in  these  establishments,  was  it  possible  to  induce  a 
Russian  to  become  a  tramp,  a  creature  who  practically 
surpasses  Nietzsche's  Superman  and  considers  everything 
permissible  and  nothing  forbidden,  and  who  scatters  this 
doctrine  first  among  the  convicts  and  then  among  the 
people  at  large. 

The  only  explanation  of  all  that  was  going  on  was  the 
necessity  of  putting  a  stop  to  evil-doing  either  by  intimida 
tion,  correction,  or  legalized  retribution,  as  it  was  expressed 
in  the  books.  Instead  of  putting  an  end  to  crime,  how 
ever,  it  only  helped  to  spread  it;  instead  of  intimidating 
the  delinquents,  of  whom  many,  like  the  vagrants,  had 
gone  to  jail  of  their  own  accord  —  it  simply  encouraged 
them  to  commit  new  crimes.  Instead  of  serving  to  correct 
the  vicious,  it  had  proved  to  be  a  systematic  inoculation 
of  vice.  And  as  for  retributive  justice,  so  far  from  con 
tenting  the  people  by  official  punishments,  it  had  excited  a 
spirit  of  revenge  where  it  had  never  before  existed. 

"Then  why  do  they  persist  in  this  course?"  Nekhludof 
asked  himself,  and  found  no  answer.  But  what  surprised 
him  most  was  that  none  of  all  this  was  haphazard  work, 
neither  was  it  of  modern  invention.  It  had  been  going  on 
for  a  century,  with  the  only  difference  that  in  old  times 
these  punishments  had  consisted  in  tearing  out  men's 
nostrils  and  splitting  their  ears,  branding  or  chaining 
them,  whereas  now  they  were  manacled  and  transported 
by  steam  instead  of  making  the  journey  in  carts. 

The  Government  officials  had  often  told  Nekhludof  that 
the  conditions  in  prison  life  which  had  excited  his  indigna 
tion  and  which  they  admitted  were  imperfect,  would  be 
improved  as  soon  as  prisons  were  built  in  accordance  with 
modern  methods;  and  the  same  was  true  of  the  exile 
system.  This  explanation,  however,  did  not  satisfy  Nekh- 


244  RESURRECTION 

Mdof,  because  he  knew  very  well  that  the  things  that 
aroused  his  indignation  were  not  caused  by  a  more  or  less 
perfect  or  imperfect  system  of  architecture.  He  had 
read  about  the  improved  prisons,  equipped  with  electric 
bells,  where  executions  were  done  by  electricity,  as  Tarde 
recommends  it,  but  this  perfected  system  of  violence  dis 
gusted  him  all  the  more. 

What  Nekhludof  practically  resented  was  that  courts 
and  ministerial  offices  should  be  administered  by  men  who 
received  large  salaries  collected  from  the  masses,  who 
spent  their  time  reading  from  books  which  had  been  writ 
ten  by  men  just  like  themselves,  who  had  been  governed  by 
the  same  motives,  who  had  classified  the  deeds  of  law 
breakers  under  statutes  which  they  themselves  had  framed, 
and  in  accordance  with  these  same  statutes  they  go  on 
sending  men  to  places  where  they  can  no  longer  see  them  or 
realize  what  is  happening  to  them,  where  they  are  wholly 
under  the  control  of  cruel  and  hardened  inspectors,  jailers, 
convoys,  and  soldiers,  —  and  the  result  is  that  millions  of 
them  perish,  body  and  soul. 

After  gaining  a  personal  knowledge  of  the  prisons  and 
the  halting-stations,  Nekhludof  recognized  that  the  chief 
vices  among  the  convicts  which  might  be  summed  up  as 
drunkenness,  gambling,  brutality,  and  all  those  shocking 
crimes  committed  by  convicts,  including  cannibalism,  are 
neither  accidents  nor  the  phenomena  of  degeneration, 
mental  and  physical,  as  certain  obtuse  scientists  have  de 
clared,  greatly  to  the  satisfaction  of  governments,  but  that 
they  are  the  inevitable  result  of  the  colossal  error  that  one 
(  group  of  human  beings  has  the  right  to  sit  in  judgment  on 
Vand  to  punish  another.  Nekhludof  realized  that  can 
nibalism  begins,  not  in  the  Taiga,  but  in  the  ministerial 
bureaus  and  government  departments.  It  ends  in  the 
Taiga.  That  his  brother-in-law,  for  instance,  as  well  as 
most  of  the  judges  and  bureaucrats,  from  the  Minister 
down  to  the  policeman,  are  very  little  concerned  with 
justice  and  the  good  of  the  people  of  which  they  prate; 


RESURRECTION  245 

all  they  care  for  is  to  get  the  roubles,  which  are  paid  them 
for  doing  what  causes  all  this  degradation  and  misery. 
There  could  be  no  mistake  about  it. 

"  But  was  it  possible  that  it  might  be  only  a  misunder 
standing?  I  wonder  if  anything  can  be  done  to  secure 
their  salaries  to  all  these  bureaucrats  and  possibly  to  pay 
them  a  premium  for  abstaining  from  their  present  activ 
ities,"  thought  Nekhludof,  and  with  thoughts  like  these 
running  in  his  head  after  the  cocks  had  crowed  for  the 
second  time,  in  spite  of  the  fleas  that  leaped  like  water 
from  a  fountain  whenever  he  moved,  he  fell  into  a  sound 
sleep. 

XX. 

WHEN  NekhMdof  awoke,  the  teamsters  had  departed 
long  ago,  the  landlady  had  her  tea,  and  mopping  her  per 
spiring  fat  neck  with  a  handkerchief  she  came  to  announce 
that  a  soldier  from  the  halting-station  had  brought  a  note. 
It  was  from  Marya  Pavlovna.  She  wrote  that  Kryltzof's 
attack  had  proved  more  serious  than  they  had  supposed. 
"  We  had  hoped  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  stay  here  and 
that  we  might  also  be  permitted  to  stay  here  and  take  care 
of  him,  but  this  request  was  refused  and  we  are  going  to 
take  him  along,  but  we  apprehend  the  worst.  Could  you 
possibly  make  arrangements  for  leaving  him  in  the  town, 
with  one  of  us  to  take  care  of  him?  If  you  think  it 
would  help  matters  if  I  were  to  marry  him,  I  am  perfectly 
willing  to  do  so." 

Nekhludof  sent  a  lad  to  the  post  station  for  horses  and 
began  to  pack  in  great  haste.  He  had  not  finished  his 
second  tumbler  of  tea,  when  a  conveyance  drawn  by  a 
troika,  with  jingling  bells  and  a  loud  rattling  of  wheels 
over  the  frozen  mud,  drove  up  to  the  porch.  Paying  his 
bill  to  the  thick-necked  landlady,  Nekhludof  hastily  left 
the  house  and  taking  his  seat  on  the  cart,  gave  orders  to 
the  coachman  to  drive  as  fast  as  he  could  to  overtake  the 


246  RESURRECTION 

gang.  He  overtook  the  carts  just  beyond  the  gates  of  the 
communal  pastures.  They  were  laden  with  the  invalids 
and  sacks  and  were  jostling  along  over  the  frozen  mud  of 
the  highway  where  it  was  just  beginning  to  be  less  rough. 
The  officer  of  the  convoy  had  already  driven  ahead.  The 
soldiers,  who  had  e vidently  been  taking  a  drink,  were  in 
the  rear,  chatting  merrily  and  walking  behind  the  carts  on 
both  sides  of  the  road.  About  six  of  the  feeble  criminals, 
closely  huddled  together,  were  seated  in  each  of  the  front 
carts,  while  the  first  three  from  the  rear  each  held  three 
political  convicts.  The  last  one  was  occupied  by  Novod- 
vdrof,  Grabdtz,  and  Kondratief.  The  second  from  the 
rear  by  R&ntzeva,  Nabatof,  and  the  feeble,  rheumatic 
woman  to  whom  Marya  Pavlovna  had  given  up  her  own 
place.  Kryltz6f,  lying  on  the  hay,  supported  by  pillows, 
was  in  the  third  cart  from  the  rear.  Marya  PaVlovna  sat 
beside  the  driver  in  the  same  cart. 

Nekhludof  halted  near  Kryltz6f 's  cart  and  approached  it. 
A  tipsy  soldier  of  the  convoy  waved  his  hand  to  warn  him 
off,  but  Nekhludof,  without  heeding  him,  went  up  to  the 
cart  and  holding  on  walked  along  beside  it.  Kryltzdf,  in 
a  sheepskin  coat  and  hat,  with  a  handkerchief  tied  over 
his  mouth,  looked  paler  and  more  emaciated  than  ever. 
His  beautiful  eyes  seemed  larger  and  brighter  than  usual. 
As  his  body  jolted  to  and  fro  from  the  inequalities  of  the 
road,  his  eyes  followed  Nekhludof,  and  to  his  question 
about  his  health,  he  replied  with  an  angry  shake  of  the 
head  and  closed  his  eyes.  It  called  for  all  his  remaining 
energy  to  bear  the  joltings  of  the  cart.  Marya  Pdvlovna 
sat  on  the  opposite  side.  She  gave  Nekhludof  a  meaning 
look,  which  expressed  all  her  anxiety  concerning  Kryltzdf 's 
state,  and  at  once  cried  in  a  loud,  cheerful  voice  which 
Nekhludof  could  hear  above  the  rattle  of  the  wheels: 

"The  officer  is  ashamed  of  himself  now!  Buzdvkin's 
manacles  have  been  removed.  He  is  carrying  the  little 
girl.  K£tya  and  Simonson  are  with  them  and  Ve*ra  too, 
she  is  taking  my  place." 


RESURRECTION  247 

Kryltztff  said  something  that  could  not  be  heard,  shak 
ing  his  head  at  Marya  Pavlovna.  He  looked  glum  and 
was  trying  to  keep  from  coughing.  Nekhludof  went  up 
still  nearer,  hoping  to  be  able  to  hear  what  he  was  saying. 
Then  Kryltzdf,  freeing  his  mouth  from  the  handkerchief, 
whispered : 

"I  am  feeling  a  little  better  now,  and  must  take  care 
not  to  catch  more  cold." 

Nekhludof  nodded,  as  if  he  agreed  with  him,  and  ex 
changed  glances  with  Marya  Pavlovna. 

"And  how  about  the  problem  of  the  three  bodies?" 
added  Kryltz6f,  still  in  a  whisper,  with  an  effort  to  smile. 
"It's  not  an  easy  solution." 

Nekhludof  did  not  understand,  but  Marya  Pavlovna  ex 
plained  that  Kryltzdf  referred  to  that  famous  mathemat 
ical  problem  concerning  the  position  of  the  three  heavenly 
spheres,  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  earth,  and  that  Krylt 
zdf  had  compared  this  problem  to  the  relations  existing 
between  Nekhludof,  Katusha,  and  Simonson.  Kryltzdf 
nodded  to  show  that  Marya  Pavlovna  had  explained  his 
little  joke  correctly. 

"It  isn't  for  me  to  decide,"  said  Nekhludof. 

"Have  you  received  my  note  ?  Will  you  do  it  ?"  asked 
Marya  Pavlovna. 

"Certainly,"  replied  Nekhludof,  and  noticing  a  shade 
of  annoyance  on  Kryltzdf  s  face  he  went  back  to  his  own 
cart,  seated  himself  on  its  sagging  bottom,  and  holding  on 
to  its  sides  jolted  over  the  humps  of  the  rough  road.  He 
passed  the  convicts  in  their  gray  coats  and  sheepskins, 
manacled  and  marching  in  pairs  in  a  file  extending  over 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  along  the  highway.  On  the 
farther  side  of  the  road  he  spied  Katiisha's  blue  kerchief, 
the  black  coat  of  Vera  Efremovna,  and  Simonson  in  his 
short  jacket  and  knit  cap,  his  white  woolen  stockings  tied 
up  with  leather  thongs  like  sandals.  He  was  walking 
abreast  of  the  women,  and  was  talking  earnestly. 

The  women  bowed  when  they  saw  Nekhludof,  and  Si- 


348  RESURRECTION 

monson  raised  his  hat  with  a  great  deal  of  solemnity. 
Nekhludof  could  think  of  nothing  to  say,  so  he  went  on 
without  stopping.  When  they  were  able  to  drive  in  the 
middle  of  the  road,  the  horses  could  go  faster  because  it 
was  not  so  rough,  but  they  were  often  compelled  to  turn 
out  to  avoid  the  heavy  wagons  on  both  sides  of  the  high 
way. 

The  highway  with  its  deep  ruts  ran  through  a  forest  of 
pine  trees,  mingled  with  larches  and  occasional  birch  trees, 
with  their  yellow  leaves  still  clinging  to  the  branches. 
Presently  the  forest  ended  and  fields  opened  on  both  sides, 
then  the  gilded  domes  and  crosses  of  a  monastery  came 
into  sight.  The  weather  had  cleared,  the  clouds  were  dis 
persed,  the  sun  rose  above  the  forest,  and  the  wet  leaves, 
the  pools,  the  domes,  and  the  church  crosses  all  glistened 
in  its  rays.  In  front  and  towards  the  right  hand,  bluish- 
gray  mountains  gleamed  in  the  distance  as  the  troika  drove 
into  a  large  suburban  village.  The  street  was  filled  with 
men  and  women,  both  Russians  and  natives,  in  their 
strange  and  flowing  cloaks.  Peasants  of  both  sexes,  some 
sober  and  others  tipsy,  swarmed  to  and  fro  and  screamed 
at  one  another  near  the  shops,  the  pothouses,  the  inns,  and 
the  wagons.  The  neighborhood  of  the  town  was  evident. 

Whipping  up  and  pulling  in  the  right-hand  horse,  the 
driver  turned  sideways  on  his  seat,  so  as  to  keep  the  reins 
on  his  right,  evidently  trying  to  show  off,  and  drove  through 
the  street  at  a  quick  trot.  Without  reining  in  the  horses, 
he  drove  down  to  the  river,  which  was  to  be  crossed  on  a 
raft.  The  raft  was  at  this  moment  in  the  middle  of  the 
river  and  was  coming  towards  them. 

Some  twenty  teams  were  already  waiting  for  it.  Nekh- 
Iddof  did  not  have  to  wait  long.  The  raft,  which  had 
been  steered  far  up  the  stream  against  the  current,  was 
now  quickly  floating  down,  brought  by  the  swift  current  of 
the  river  towards  the  landing.  The  tall,  silent,  muscular, 
and  broad-shouldered  ferrymen,  in  sheepskin  coats  and 
Siberian  boots,  by  a  quick,  practiced  movement  threw  the 


RESURRECTION  249 

nooses  over  the  posts,  moored  the  raft,  and  removing  the 
bars  allowed  the  carts  that  were  already  on  board  to  drive 
ashore. 

Then  they  began  to  take  the  return  freight,  the  twenty 
carts  with  their  restless  and  terrified  horses,  packing  them 
closely  side  by  side.  The  swift,  broad  river  washed  the 
sides  of  the  boats  of  the  raft,  straining  their  cables. 
When  the  raft  was  full,  Nekhludofs  cart,  from  which  the 
horses  had  been  removed,  was  placed  on  the  edge  of  the 
raft,  crowded  on  all  sides,  the  boatmen  put  up  the  bars 
and  paying  no  heed  to  the  requests  of  those  who  could  not 
get  on,  threw  off  the  nooses  and  started.  All  was  quiet  on 
the  raft;  the  only  sounds  to  be  heard  were  the  tramp  of 
the  boatmen's  feet  and  the  uneasy  shuffling  of  the  hoofs 
of  the  horses. 


XXI. 

STANDING  on  the  side  of  the  raft,  Nekhliidof  gazed  at 
the  wide  river.  Two  images  rose  in  his  mind.  One  was 
that  of  the  jolting  head  of  the  dying  and  exasperated 
Kryltzdf,  the  other  the  picture  of  Katiisha  briskly  walking 
along  the  road  by  the  side  of  Simonson.  The  impression 
of  the  dying  Kryltzdf,  unprepared  for  death,  was  not 
only  sad,  but  distressing.  The  impression  of  Katiisha,  so 
cheerful  and  vigorous,  who  had  found  the  love  of  such  a 
man  as  Simonson  and  was  now  treading  the  straight  and 
solid  path  of  virtue,  ought  to  have  been  a  pleasant  one,  but 
somehow  Nekhludof  didn't  find  it  so.  He  was  unable  to 
shake  off  a  feeling  of  depression. 

A  large  church  bell  was  ringing  in  the  town,  and  the 
metallic  sound  was  borne  across  the  water.  Not  only  the 
driver  who  stood  beside  Nekhludof,  but  all  the  other  team 
sters  one  after  another  removed  their  caps  and  crossed 
themselves.  Only  one  old  man,  short  in  stature  and 
ragged  in  raiment,  paid  no  respect  to  the  signal  but  lifted 


250  RESURRECTION 

his  head  and  looked  at  Nekhliidof.  Although  he  was 
standing  very  close,  the  latter  had  not  noticed  him  before. 
He  wore  a  patched  coat,  cloth  trousers,  and  patched  shoes 
down  at  the  heels.  A  small  bag  was  slung  over  one 
shoulder,  and  his  head  was  covered  with  a  low  fur  cap 
much  the  worse  for  wear. 

"Why  are  you  not  saying  your  prayers,  old  man?" 
asked  Nekhludof's  driver,  as  he  readjusted  his  cap. 
"  Have  you  never  been  baptized  ?" 

"Whom  should  I  pray  to?"  asked  the  old  man,  in  an 
aggressive  tone  of  voice. 

"To  whom?  Why,  to  God,  of  course,"  ironically  re 
plied  the  driver. 

"And  will  you  show  me  where  He  is,  that  God  of 
yours  ?" 

There  was  something  serious  and  determined  in  the  old 
man's  expression,  so  that  the  driver,  realizing  that  he  was 
dealing  with  a  strong  personality,  though  he  was  some 
what  abashed,  did  not  wish  to  seem  discomfited  in  the 
presence  of  this  audience.  He  spoke  quickly : 

"Where?     In  heaven,  of  course." 

"Have  you  been  there?" 

"  I  may  not  have  been  there,  but  everybody  knows  that 
he  must  pray  to  God!" 

"No  one  has  seen  God  anywhere,  but  His  only  be 
gotten  Son  who  exists  in  the  substance  of  His  Father  who 
has  manifested  Him,"  said  the  old  man,  frowning  sternly 
and  speaking  as  fast  as  he  could. 

"You  must  be  a  heathen  and  pray  to  a  hole  in  the 
ground,"  replied  Nekhludof's  driver,  tucking  his  whip 
into  his  belt  and  adjusting  the  harness  of  one  of  the  horses 
on  the  side. 

Some  one  laughed. 

"What,  then,  is  your  religion,  grandpa?"  asked  an 
elderly  man  who  stood  beside  a  loaded  wagon  near  the 
edge  of  the  raft. 

"  I  have  no  religion,  because  I  have  no  faith  in  any  one 


RESURRECTION  251 

but  myself,"  replied  the  old  man,  speaking  just  as  fast* 
with  the  same  determination  as  before. 

"How  can  you  believe  in  yourself?"  asked  Nekhludof, 
carrying  on  the  conversation.  "  You  might  be  mistaken." 

"Not  on  your  life!"  replied  the  old  man,  resolutely 
shaking  his  head. 

"Then  why  is  it  that  there  are  different  religions?" 
asked  Nekhludof. 

"Religions  differ  because  men  put  their  faith  in  other 
men  and  not  in  themselves.  When  I  used  to  pin  my  faith 
on  other  men,  I  wandered  about  as  if  I  were  lost  in  the 
Taiga!  I  was  lost,  and  I  was  afraid  that  I  should  never 
be  able  to  find  my  way  out.  There  are  all  kinds  of  reli 
gions,  Sectarians  both  Old  and  New,  Sabbatarians,  Fla 
gellants,  Popish  and  Popeless,  the  Austriaks,  the  Milkers, 
and  Eunudrs.  Every  religion  praises  itself.  And  be 
hold,  they  are  all  crawling  about  in  different  directions 
like  blind  puppies.  There  are  many  religions,  but  only 
one  Spirit,  which  is  in  me,  in  you,  and  in  every  man,  and 
this  means  that  each  man  ought  to  believe  in  the  Spirit 
that  is  within  him.  Then  we  shall  all  be  united,  each  man 
for  himself,  and  everybody  will  be  agreed."  The  old  man 
spoke  in  a  loud  voice  and  kept  looking  around,  as  if  he 
wanted  to  be  heard  by  as  many  persons  as  possible. 

"How  long  have  you  professed  this  faith?"  asked 
Nekhludof. 

"  Me  ?  Oh,  a  long  time.  They  have  been  persecuting 
me  for  twenty- three  years." 

"In  what  way?" 

"As  Christ  was  persecuted.  They  arrest  me  and  drag 
me  into  Court,  and  the  priests  read  from  their  books,  like 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  Once  they  put  me  in  the  mad 
house.  But  they  can't  do  me  any  harm  because  I  am  a 
free  man.  '  What  is  your  name  ?'  they  ask.  They  think 
I  am  going  to  call  myself  by  some  name,  but  I  am  not.  I 
deny  everything,  — I  have  no  name,  no  place,  no  country; 
I  have  nothing.  I  am  just  my  own  self!  'My  name?  A 


252  RESURRECTION 

man.'  'And  how  old  are  you  ?'  I  reply,  'I  never  count 
the  years,  because  it  can't  be  done.  I  always  have  existed, 
and  I  always  shall  exist,  for  ever  and  ever.'  'Who  are 
your  father  and  mother?'  'I  have  no  father  or  mother 
except  God  and  Mother  Earth.'  'Do  you  acknowledge 
the  Czar  ?'  '  Why  shouldn't  I  ?  He  is  a  Czar  unto  him 
self,  I  am  a  Czar  unto  myself.'  'What  use  is  there  in 
talking  to  you  ?'  And  I  reply,  '  I  didn't  ask  you  to  talk 
to  me!'  That's  the  way  they  persecute  me." 

"And  where  are  you  going  now  ?"  inquired  Nekhludof. 

"Wherever  God  leads  me.  I  work,  and  if  the  work 
gives  out,  I  beg,"  concluded  the  old  man  and  looked  about 
him  exultantly,  as  the  raft  neared  the  opposite  shore. 
When  it  had  been  made  fast,  Nekhludof  took  out  his 
purse  and  offered  the  old  man  some  coins,  but  the  latter 
refused  to  take  them.  "I  never  accept  that  sort  of  gift." 

"Then  you  must  forgive  me." 

"There  is  nothing  to  forgive.  You've  done  me  no 
harm.  Food  is  what  I  accept,"  he  said. 

"No  one  can  harm  me,"  repeated  the  old  man  as  he 
again  slung  over  his  shoulder  the  bag  which  he  had  taken 
off  his  back  on  the  raft.  Meanwhile  Nekhludof's  cart 
had  been  taken  from  the  raft  and  the  horses  reharnessed. 

"I  wouldn't  talk  to  him,  sir.  He  is  just  a  worthless 
tramp,"  said  the  driver  to  Nekhludof,  when  the  latter, 
having  feed  the  ferryman,  climbed  again  on  to  his  cart. 

XXII. 

WHEN  they  had  climbed  the  hill,  the  driver  turned  to 
Nekhludof.  "  Where  shall  I  take  you  ?" 

"Which  is  the  best  hotel?" 

"The  Sibirsk  hotel,  to  be  sure.  But  Dukdv's  is  also 
good." 

"Then  I  don't  care." 

The  driver  seated  himself  sideways  again  and  drove 
faster.  The  town  was  much  like  all  other  towns.  The 


RESURRECTION  253 

same  sort  of  houses,  with  green  gabled  roofs,  the  same  sort 
of  cathedral,  and  the  same  shops  on  the  main  street,  and 
even  the  same  policemen.  Only  the  houses  were  mostly 
frame  buildings,  and  the  streets  were  unpaved.  In  one 
of  these  the  driver  stopped  his  troika  at  the  entrance  of  the 
hotel.  But  all  the  rooms  were  taken,  so  that  Nekhliidof 
had  to  drive  on.  The  other  hotel  had  one  unoccupied 
room,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  course  of  his  two  months' 
journey  he  found  himself  surrounded  by  the  comfort  and 
cleanliness  to  which  he  was  accustomed.  Although  his 
room  was  not  luxurious,  still  after  traveling  in  the  cart  and 
putting  up  at  the  halting-stations  he  felt  a  sense  of  relief. 
He  was  also  glad  to  escape  from  the  vermin  which  had  tor 
mented  him  at  the  halting-stations.  He  unpacked  and 
drove  at  once  to  a  Russian  bath.  Then  he  dressed  him 
self  in  city  fashion,  put  on  a  starched  shirt,  trousers  some 
what  crumpled  from  long  packing,  a  coat  and  overcoat, 
and  drove  to  the  Governor-General's.  The  izvostchik  who 
had  been  called  by  the  hotel  porter  had  a  well-fed  Kirghiz 
horse  harnessed  to  a  rattling  vehicle.  He  drove  Nekhlti- 
dof  to  a  handsome  structure  guarded  by  sentries  and 
policemen,  which  stood  in  a  garden  whose  leafless  aspens 
and  birch  trees  were  growing  among  the  evergreen  pine 
and  fir  trees. 

The  General  was  indisposed  and  was  not  receiving. 
Still,  Nekhludof  asked  the  footman  to  give  him  his  card, 
and  the  latter  returned  with  a  favorable  message. 

"You  are  to  come  in,  please." 

The  ante-chamber,  the  footman,  the  orderly,  the  stair 
case,  the  hall  with  its  shining  parquet  floor,  all  reminded 
him  of  Petersburg,  only  it  was  more  imposing  and  less  well 
kept. 

The  General,  a  man  of  choleric  temper,  with  a  bloated 
face  and  puffy  eyelids,  a  snub  nose,  projecting  cheek-bones 
and  a  bald  head,  dressed  in  a  silk  Tartar  dressing-gown, 
sat  smoking  a  cigarette,  and  sipping  his  tea  from  a 
tumbler  in  a  silver  holder. 


254  RESURRECTION 

"  Good-morning,  my  dear  fellow.  Excuse  this  dress 
ing-gown,  but  better  that,  than  if  I  had  not  received  you 
at  all,"  he  said,  pulling  up  the  dressing-gown  over  his  fat, 
wrinkled  neck.  "I  am  not  feeling  very  well,  and  am 
staying  in  the  house.  What  on  earth  has  brought  you  to 
this  out-of-the-way  place?" 

"I  followed  a  gang  of  convicts  among  whom  there  is  a 
person  who  is  dear  to  me,"  said  Nekhludof,  "and  I  have 
come  here  to  petition  your  Excellency  about  her  and  also 
about  another  matter." 

The  General  took  a  long  whiff,  a  swallow  of  tea,  extin 
guished  his  cigarette  in  the  malachite  ash  tray,  and,  fixing 
his  eyes  on  Nekhludof,  listened  attentively.  He  inter 
rupted  him  only  once  to  ask  if  he  wouldn't  like  to 
smoke. 

The  General  belonged  to  the  learned  type  of  military 
men,  who  believe  it  possible  to  combine  humanitarianism 
and  liberalism  with  the  activities  of  their  professional  life. 
Originally  a  clever  and  kind-hearted  man,  he  speedily 
recognized  the  impossibility  of  such  a  combination,  and  in 
order  to  avoid  seeing  the  inconsistency  that  confronted 
him  he  had  gradually  become  addicted  to  the  habit  of 
drink,  so  prevalent  in  military  circles,  and  after  indulg 
ing  in  this  habit  for  thirty-five  years  he  had  become  what 
the  doctors  call  "a  victim  of  alcoholism."  He  was  liter 
ally  saturated  with  liquor.  Now  any  liquor  whatever 
served  to  intoxicate  him,  but  wine  had  become  such  a 
necessity  for  him,  he  couldn't  exist  without  it  and  every 
day  towards  night  he  was  fairly  drunk;  but  he  had  become 
so  used  to  it,  that  he  no  longer  reeled  or  talked  foolishly. 
And  even  if  he  did  say  something  silly  now  and  then,  he 
occupied  such  an  important  post,  that  even  his  most 
foolish  remarks  were  received  as  the  utterances  of  wisdom. 
It  was  only  in  the  forenoon,  just  before  the  hour  of  Nekh 
ludof 's  visit,  that  his  mind  was  clear  enough  to  understand 
what  was  said  to  him  and  to  give  a  personal  illustration  of  the 
proverb  he  was  so  fond  of  repeating,  "  Drunk  and  clever, 


RESURRECTION  255 

good  as  ever."  The  higher  authorities  knew  that  this 
man  was  a  drunkard,  but  still  he  had  had  a  better  edu 
cation  than  most  of  the  other  men  who  were  available, 
although  his  progress  in  education  ceased  when  his  fond 
ness  for  drink  began.  He  was  bold,  clever,  and  dignified, 
and  even  when  intoxicated  he  always  behaved  with  tact. 
Therefore  he  had  been  appointed  to  this  responsible  and 
important  post  which  he  still  occupied. 

Nekhludof  told  him  that  the  person  in  whom  he  was  in 
terested  was  a  woman,  that  she  had  been  unjustly  con 
demned  and  sentenced,  and  that  a  petition  in  her  favor 
had  been  presented  to  his  Majesty. 

"Yes,"  said  the  General,  "and  what  next?" 

"I  was  promised  in  Petersburg  that  the  decision  con 
cerning  her  fate  would  be  forwarded  to  me  here  some  time 
this  month." 

With  his  eyes  still  fixed  on  those  of  Nekhliidof,  the 
General  extended  his  hand  with  its  stumpy  fingers  toward 
the  table,  and  rang  the  bell  without  ceasing  to  listen  and 
puffing  at  his  cigarette,  all  the  while  noisily  clearing  his 
throat. 

"  I  came  to  ask  you  to  allow  this  woman  to  remain  here 
until  I  receive  an  answer  to  the  petition." 

A  servant  dressed  like  an  orderly  entered  the  room. 

"Ask  if  Anna  Vassilievna  is  up,"  said  the  General, 
"  and  give  us  some  more  tea.  And  what  next  ?"  he  asked, 
addressing  Nekhludof. 

"  My  second  request  concerns  a  political  prisoner,  who 
is  in  the  same  gang." 

"Indeed?"  said  the  General,  with  a  meaning  nod. 

"  He  is  very  ill.  In  fact  he  is  dying.  He  will  probably 
be  left  here  hi  the  hospital,  and  one  of  the  women  pris 
oners  asks  leave  to  remain  with  him." 

"Is  she  a  kinswoman  of  his  ?" 

"  No,  but  she  is  willing  to  marry  him  if  she  could  be  per 
mitted  to  take  care  of  him." 

The  keen  eyes  of  the  General  were  fixed  on  Nekhludof, 


256  RESURRECTION 

as  if  he  were  trying  to  embarrass  the  latter,  but  he  never 
opened  his  lips, — he  only  went  on  smoking. 

When  Nekhludof  had  finished,  the  General  reached  for 
a  book  on  the  table  and  wetting  his  fingers  began  to  turn 
the  pages  rapidly,  until  he  found  the  statute  relating  to 
marriage,  which  he  read. 

"To  what  is  she  sentenced ?"  he  asked,  looking  up  from 
the  book. 

"To  hard  labor." 

"  In  that  case  the  position  of  the  sick  man  would  hardly 
be  improved." 

"But " 

"Wait  a  moment.  Even  if  she  were  to  marry  a  free 
man,  she  would  be  obliged  to  serve  her  sentence  all  the 
same.  The  question  is,  which  of  the  two  has  the  heavier 
sentence,  he  or  she?" 

"They  are  both  sentenced  to  hard  labor." 

"In  that  case  they  are  quits,"  said  the  General,  laugh 
ing.  "Both  are  served  alike.  He  may,  of  course,  be 
kept  here  on  account  of  his  state  of  health,  and,  of  course, 
everything  would  be  done  to  make  him  comfortable;  but 
so  far  as  she  is  concerned,  even  though  she  married  him, 
she  would  not  be  allowed  to  remain  here." 

"  Her  Excellency  is  drinking  her  coffee,"  announced  the 
waiter. 

The  General  nodded  and  went  on. 

"Still,  I  will  think  the  matter  over.  What  are  their 
names  ?  Write  them  down  here,  please." 

NekhMdof  wrote  them  down. 

"No,  I  could  not  allow  that,  either,"  said  the  General, 
when  Nekhludof  asked  for  permission  to  see  the  sick 
man.  "I  wouldn't  have  you  imagine  that  I  suspect  you, 
but  you  are  interested  in  this  man,  as  well  as  in  others, 
and  you  have  money.  Here  everybody  and  everything 
are  for  sale.  I  have  been  told,  Put  down  bribery,  but  how 
can  I  expect  to  put  it  down,  when  any  man  will  take  a 
bribe  ?  The  lower  the  rank,  the  larger  the  bribe.  How 


RESURRECTION  257 

am  I  to  watch  a  man  who  is  five  thousand  versts  away  ? 
Every  official  is  as  much  a  Czar  in  his  own  way  as  I  am 
here."  And  the  General  laughed.  "Now  I  am  quite 
sure  that  you  must  have  seen  these  political  prisoners  and 
of  course  you  didn't  get  in  without  bribery,"  he  said, 
smiling.  "Isn't  that  so?" 

"Yes,  that's  true." 

"So  far  as  you  are  concerned  it  is  all  right.  You 
wanted  to  see  a  certain  political  convict  because  you  pitied 
him,  and  the  inspector  or  the  officer  of  the  convoy  accepts 
the  bribe  because  he  has  a  family  to  support  and  gets  a 
wholly  inadequate  salary.  He  can't  help  taking  it.  If 
I  were  in  his  place  I  should  do  the  same  thing,  and,  so  far 
as  that  goes,  I  am  quite  sure  that  if  I  were  you,  I  should 
do  just  what  you  have  done.  But  situated  as  I  am,  I 
cannot  allow  myself  to  deviate  from  the  strict  letter  of  law, 
just  because  I  am  a  man  and  susceptible  to  human  sym 
pathy.  I  am  a  disciplinarian  and  have  been  intrusted 
with  certain  responsibilities,  and  I  must  justify  this  trust. 
Well,  then,  we  seem  to  have  threshed  this  matter  out. 
Now  tell  me  what  is  going  on  in  the  capital?"  And  the 
General  talked  and  asked  questions  at  the  same  time,  evi 
dently  anxious  to  hear  the  news  and  to  display  both  his 
principles  and  his  philanthropy. 


XXIII. 

"So,  there  we  are.  Where  are  you  stopping?  At 
Duke's  ?  It's  just  as  bad  there  as  anywhere  else.  You 
would  better  dine  with  us.  We  dine  at  five,"  said  the 
General,  as  Nekhludof  was  about  to  leave.  "  Of  course 
you  speak  English?" 

"Yes." 

"So  much  the  better.  We  have  an  English  traveler 
here.  He  is  studying  Siberia  and  the  exile  system.  We 
expect  him  to  dinner  this  evening,  and  you  must  come  too. 

VOL.   II. — 17 


258  RESURRECTION 

We  dine  at  five,  and  my  wife  insists  on  punctuality.  By 
that  time  I  shall  be  able  to  give  you  an  answer  about  the 
woman  and  also  about  the  man  who  is  ill.  It  may,  per 
haps,  be  possible  to  allow  some  one  to  remain  with  him." 

After  taking  leave  of  the  General,  Nekhludof,  feeling 
somewhat  exhilarated  and  full  of  nervous  energy,  went  to 
the  post-office. 

The  post-office  occupied  a  low,  vaulted  room.  Clerks 
seated  at  their  desks  were  distributing  letters  to  the  people. 
One  clerk,  with  his  head  bent  sidewise,  was  mechanically 
stamping  the  envelopes,  slipping  them  dexterously  under 
the  stamp.  Nekhludof  had  hardly  mentioned  his  name 
when  his  large  mail  was  at  once  handed  him.  He  received 
money,  letters,  and  books,  and  the  last  number  of 
Vestnik  Evropy.1  After  receiving  his  mail  he  sat  down  on 
a  wooden  bench  beside  a  soldier  who  was  reading  a  book 
while  he  waited,  and  opened  his  letters.  One  of  them 
was  a  registered  letter  in  a  neat  envelope  with  a  red  seal. 
He  opened  it,  and  when  he  saw  that  it  was  from  Selenin 
and  contained  another  official  communication,  he  felt  the 
blood  rush  to  his  face  and  his  heart  stood  still.  It  was  the 
decision  in  Katiisha's  case.  What  would  it  be  ?  Could 
it  possibly  be  a  refusal?  Nekhludof  glanced  hurriedly 
over  the  contents,  but  the  fine,  rather  cramped  handwrit 
ing  was  difficult  to  read.  However,  the  answer  was  favor 
able,  and  Nekhludof  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief. 

"  My  dear  friend,"  wrote  Selenin.  "  Our  last  conversa 
tion  left  deep  impressions  on  me.  You  were  right  in  re 
gard  to  Mdslova.  I  went  over  the  case  carefully  and  saw 
that  a  terrible  injustice  had  been  done  to  her.  But  it 
could  only  be  remedied  by  the  Committee  of  Petitions 
where  you  entered  the  appeal.  I  succeeded  in  helping 
the  matter  along  and  am  now  sending  you  a  copy  of  the 
pardon  to  the  address  given  me  by  Katerina  Ivanovna. 
The  original  document  has  been  sent  to  the  place  of  her 

1  "Messenger  of  Europe." 


RESURRECTION  259 

confinement  during  the  trial  and  will  probably  be  for 
warded  at  once  to  the  Siberian  Central  Office.  I  hasten 
to  write  you  the  good  news  and  warmly  press  your  hand. 

"  Yours,  SELENIN." 

The  contents  of  the  document  were  as  follows: 

"His  Majesty's  Chancery  for  Petitions.  Case  No.  so 
and  so.  Department  such  and  such.  Such  and  such  a 
date  and  year.  By  order  of  the  Chief  of  His  Majesty's 
Chancery,  citizen  Katerina  Maslova  is  hereby  informed 
that  in  consequence  of  her  humble  petition  His  Majesty 
graciously  condescends  to  grant  her  request  and  hereby 
graciously  orders  that  her  sentence  to  hard  labor  be  com 
muted  to  exile  to  some  less  remote  part  of  Siberia." 

It  was  indeed  joyful  and  important  news.  Everything 
had  resulted  as  satisfactorily  as  Nekhludof  could  have  de 
sired  for  Katiisha  as  well  as  for  himself.  It  was  true,  of 
course,  that  the  change  presented  new  perplexities  regard 
ing  his  own  relations  towards  her.  While  she  was  a  con 
vict,  the  marriage  he  had  offered  her  was  fictitious  and 
would  serve  no  purpose  except  possibly  to  alleviate  her 
situation.  But  now  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  them 
from  living  together,  and  for  this  Nekhludof  was  unpre 
pared.  And  then  how  would  it  be  with  her  relations  to 
Simonson  ?  What  did  those  words  she  had  spoken  yester 
day  really  mean?  And  supposing  she  were  to  marry 
Simonson,  would  that  be  a  good  thing  for  her  or  a  bad 
one  ?  He  could  not  possibly  disentangle  all  these  prob 
lems,  so  he  very  sensibly  ceased  to  dwell  upon  them. 
"Sometime  all  perplexing  difficulties  will  be  made  clear," 
he  thought  to  himself.  "Now  I  must  try  to  see  her  as 
soon  as  possible  and  tell  her  the  glad  news  and  set  her 
free."  He  thought  that  the  copy  he  had  in  his  hands 
would  suffice  for  this  purpose;  so  when  he  stepped  out  of 
the  post-office  he  told  his  izvostchik  to  drive  to  the  prison. 


260  RESURRECTION 

Although  the  General  had  not  given  him  a  permit  to 
visit  the  prison  that  morning,  Nekhludof  knew  from 
past  experience  that  what  is  sometimes  refused  by  the 
higher  authorities,  can  often  be  obtained  from  the  sub 
ordinates,  and  decided  that  he  would  at  all  events  make  an 
attempt  to  visit  the  prison,  that  he  might  tell  Katusha  the 
glad  news  and  perhaps  secure  her  release;  and  at  the  same 
time  he  could  make  inquiries  about  Kryltzdf  and  tell  him 
and  M£rya  P£vlovna  what  the  General  had  said. 

The  Inspector  of  the  prison  was  a  tall,  stout,  and  digni 
fied-looking  man  with  a  mustache  and  side-whiskers  that 
curved  around  the  corners  of  his  mouth.  His  manner  was 
stern,  and  he  at  once  informed  Nekhludof  that  no  out 
siders  could  be  admitted  without  a  special  order  from  his 
chief.  To  Nekhliidof  s  remonstrance  and  the  assertion 
that  he  had  often  been  admitted  even  in  the  capital,  the 
Inspector  replied: 

"That  may  be  so,  but  I  shall  not  allow  it." 

His  tone  seemed  to  imply :  "  You  gentlemen  who  live  in 
the  metropolis  think  that  you  can  surprise  and  impress 
us.  But  even  if  we  do  live  in  Eastern  Siberia,  we  know 
the  rules  and  regulations  and  we  can  teach  you  a  thing 
or  two !"  Even  the  copy  of  the  document  forwarded  from 
His  Majesty's  Chancery  made  no  impression  on  the  In 
spector  and  he  positively  refused  to  admit  Nekhliidof  in 
side  the  prison  walls.  In  answer  to  Nekhludof's  some 
what  ingenuous  supposition  that  Maslova  could  be  set 
free  on  the  strength  of  this  copy,  he  only  smiled  disdain 
fully  and  explained  that  no  one  could  be  set  free  without 
an  order  from  his  immediate  chief.  All  that  he  would 
promise  was  to  inform  M&slova  that  she  had  been  par 
doned  and  that  he  would  not  detain  her  one  hour  after  he 
had  received  a  communication  to  that  effect  from  his 
immediate  superior. 

He  likewise  refused  to  give  any  news  concerning 
KryltzoTs  state  of  health,  saying  that  it  would  not  be 
possible  for  him  to  say  if  there  were  a  convict  of  that  name 


RESURRECTION  261 

in  the  prison.  And  so,  having  been  disappointed  in  all  his 
expectations,  Nekhliidof  returned  to  his  izvdstchik  and 
drove  back  to  his  hotel. 

The  Inspector's  severity  was  chiefly  due  to  the  fact  that 
typhoid  fever  had  broken  out  in  the  overcrowded  prison. 
The  iwdstchik  who  drove  Nekhludof  told  him  on  the  way 
that  a  great  many  persons  were  dying  in  this  prison; 
some  sort  of  a  disease  had  attacked  them  and  twenty  con 
victs  would  often  be  buried  in  one  day. 


XXIV. 

ALTHOUGH  Nekhliidof  had  failed  in  his  attempts  to  get 
inside  the  prison  walls,  so  far  from  losing  courage  he 
drove  to  the  office  of  the  Governor  to  inquire  whether  the 
order  for  Maslova's  pardon  had  been  received  there.  But 
as  no  such  paper  had  arrived,  Nekhludof  on  his  return  to 
the  hotel  made  haste  to  write  to  Seldnin  and  to  his  own 
counsel.  When  both  letters  were  written,  he  looked  at  his 
watch.  It  was  already  time  to  go  to  dinner.  On  his  way 
he  was  again  worried  about  Katusha.  How  would  she 
receive  the  news  of  her  pardon.  Where  would  she  settle  ? 
How  could  he  live  with  her  ?  What  about  Simonson  ? 
What  are  the  relations  between  them  ?  He  thought  of  the 
change  that  had  come  over  her,  and  then  he  recalled  her 
past  life.  "  That  should  be  forgotten,  blotted  out  forever/* 
he  exclaimed;  and  again  he  strove  to  change  the  current  of 
his  thoughts.  "  I  shall  know  what  to  do  when  the  time 
comes,"  he  said  to  himself  and  began  to  arrange  in  his 
mind  what  he  was  going  to  say  to  the  General. 

The  dinner  at  the  General's  house,  with  all  the  luxurious 
appointments  belonging  to  the  upper  class,  as  well  as  to 
the  important  bureaucrats,  seemed  to  Nekhliidof  after  his 
numerous  privations,  not  only  of  the  comforts  but  of  the 
actual  necessities  of  life,  extremely  enjoyable.  The  host 
ess,  a  grande  dame  of  the  old  school,  formerly  a  maid  of 


262  RESURRECTION 

honor  at  the  Court  of  Nicholas  I,  spoke  French  "naturally" 
and  Russian  "unnaturally."  She  held  herself  erect,  and 
whenever  she  made  a  gesture  she  never  lifted  her  elbows 
from  her  waist.  She  was  calm,  and  her  attitude  towards 
her  husband  expressed  a  certain  compassionate  deference. 
Towards  her  guests  she  was  gracious  and  attentive,  though 
with  certain  reserves,  according  to  their  social  status.  She 
received  Nekhludof  like  one  of  her  own  set,  with  that  unde 
fined,  imperceptible  flattery  that  reminded  him  of  his 
virtues  and  gratified  his  vanity.  She  made  him  understand 
that  she  was  aware  of  the  honorable  purpose  which  had 
brought  him  to  Siberia  and  that  she  considered  him  an 
unusual  character.  This  delicate  flattery,  as  well  as  the 
refinement  and  luxury  about  him,  contributed  to  Nekhlu 
dof 's  enjoyment  of  his  well-cooked  food  and  the  pleasure 
of  associating  with  well-bred  men  and  women  of  his  own 
class.  It  seemed  as  though  all  he  had  lived  through, 
during  these  last  months,  had  been  only  a  dream  from 
which  he  had  just  awakened. 

Besides  the  General's  daughter,  her  husband,  and  the 
aide-de-camp,  who  were  a  part  of  the  household,  there  were 
other  guests:  an  Englishman,  a  merchant  interested  in 
gold  mines,  and  the  Governor  of  a  distant  Siberian  city. 
They  all  made  an  agreeable  impression  on  Nekhludof. 

The  rosy-cheeked,  healthy-looking  Englishman  spoke 
very  poor  French  but  had  excellent  command  of  his  own 
language,  and  used  it  like  an  orator.  He  was  an  inter 
esting  man  who  had  traveled  widely  and  could  talk  in  an 
entertaining  way  of  America,  India,  Japan,  and  Siberia. 

The  young  gold  merchant,  the  son  of  a  peasant,  wore 
a  swallow-tail  coat  made  in  London,  and  diamond  studs. 
He  possessed  an  extensive  library,  was  a  philanthropist, 
and  sympathized  with  liberal  European  ideas.  Nekhlu 
dof  was  particularly  pleased  with  him  because  he  repre 
sented  a  new  and  attractive  type  of  the  cultured  European 
grafted  on  the  Russian  peasant  stock.  The  Governor 
of  the  remote  Siberian  city  was  that  same  Department 


RESURRECTION  263 

Director  about  whom  there  had  been  so  much  talk  in 
Petersburg  when  Nekhludof  was  there.  He  was  a  rather 
stout  gentleman  with  soft,  blue  eyes,  a  pleasant  smile, 
thin,  curling  hair,  white,  well-kept  hands  adorned  with 
rings,  and  very  short  legs.  The  host  had  a  sincere  respect 
for  this  guest  of  his,  because  in  the  venal  world  to  which 
he  was  accustomed,  he  was  the  only  man  who  refused  to 
take  a  bribe.  The  hostess,  who  was  very  fond  of  music 
and  a  good  musician  herself,  liked  him  because  he  played 
well  and  could  play  duets  with  her.  Nekhludof  was  in 
such  a  happy  frame  of  mind  that  to-day  even  this  man 
was  not  disagreeable  to  him. 

The  jolly,  lively  aide-de-camp,  with  his  shaven  bluish 
chin,  who  was  always  offering  his  services,  was  so  good- 
natured  that  nobody  could  dislike  him.  But  Nekhludof 
was  greatly  pleased  with  that  charming  couple,  the  Gen 
eral's  daughter  and  her  husband.  She  was  a  plain,  simple 
young  lady,  entirely  absorbed  in  her  two  children.  The 
marriage  had  been  a  love-match,  and  had  taken  place  only 
after  a  long  struggle  with  her  parents.  He  was  a  "can 
didate"  of  the  Moscow  University,  a  man  of  brains  and  in 
the  Government  service.  He  was  interested  in  statistics, 
particularly  in  the  aboriginal  tribes,  of  whom  he  had  made 
a  study,  for  he  liked  them  and  hoped  to  save  them  from 
extinction.  Not  only  were  all  the  guests  gracious  and 
amiable  to  Nekhludof,  but  they  evidently  enjoyed  him 
as  an  original  and  interesting  personality.  The  Gen 
eral,  who  came  in  to  dinner  in  an  undress  uniform  with 
the  white  cross,  greeted  Nekhludof  like  an  old  friend  and 
invited  the  guests  to  partake  of  the  zakouska  and  the 
vddka.  He  asked  Nekhludof  what  he  had  been  doing  all 
the  afternoon  after  he  left  him,  and  Nekhludof  told  him 
about  going  to  the  post-office  and  receiving  a  letter  in 
forming  him  of  the  pardon  that  had  been  granted  to  the 
person  of  whom  he  had  spoken  to  him  in  the  morning. 
Now  he  was  going  to  ask  the  General  for  a  permit  to 
visit  the  jail.  The  latter,  evidently  displeased  that  busi- 


264  RESURRECTION 

ness  should  have  been  introduced  as  a  dinner-table  topic, 
frowned  but  made  no  reply. 

"  Will  you  take  some  vddka?"  he  said  in  French  to  the 
Englishman,  as  he  went  up  to  the  table  with  the  zakotiska. 

The  Englishman,  after  drinking  a  wineglassful,  said 
that  he  had  visited  the  factory  and  the  cathedral  that 
morning,  but  would  like  very  much  to  see  the  great  Trans 
portation  Prison. 

"So  much  the  better;  then  you  two  can  go  together," 
said  the  General,  turning  to  Nekhludof.  "  Write  them  a 
permit,"  he  said,  turning  to  the  aide-de-camp. 

"What  hour  would  suit  you?"  Nekhludof  asked  the 
Englishman. 

"I  always  prefer  to  visit  jails  at  night.  Everybody  is 
in  then,  and  there  is  no  chance  for  preparation,  so  one 
sees  things  as  they  really  are,"  replied  the  Englishman. 

"Ah,  he  wants  to  see  it  in  all  its  glory!  Let  him,  let 
him!  When  I  wrote  about  it  they  paid  no  attention  to 
me.  Now  let  them  find  out  about  it  from  the  foreign 
press,"  said  the  General  and  took  his  seat  at  the  dinner- 
table,  where  the  hostess  was  seating  the  guests.  Nekhlu 
dof  sat  between  the  hostess  and  the  Englishman.  On 
the  opposite  side  of  the  table  sat  the  General's  daughter 
and  the  ex-director. 

At  the  table  the  conversation  was  of  a  varied  character. 
The  Englishman  described  conditions  in  India,  whence 
he  had  just  returned.  The  General  spoke  in  terms  of 
reprobation  of  the  Tonquin  expedition,  and  the  universal 
bribery  and  rascality  in  Siberia.  None  of  these  subjects 
interested  Nekhludof. 

But  in  the  drawing-room,  after  dinner,  when  the  coffee 
was  brought  in,  an  interesting  conversation  was  started 
between  the  hostess,  the  Englishman,  and  himself  about 
Gladstone,  in  which  Nekhludof  had,  as  he  believed,  made 
many  clever  remarks  which  had  been  noticed  by  his  inter 
locutors.  And  after  the  good  dinner,  the  wine,  and  the 
coffee,  sitting  in  a  soft  armchair,  surrounded  by  affable, 


RESURRECTION  265 

well-bred  people,  Nekhludof  felt  more  and  more  con 
tented.  When  the  hostess  and  the  ex-director  at  the  re 
quest  of  the  Englishman  seated  themselves  at  the  piano 
and  played  Beethoven's  Fifth  Symphony,  which  they  had 
carefully  practiced  together,  Nekhludof  felt  as  if  he  were 
realizing  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  what  a  good  man  he 
was.  It  was  a  fine-toned  grand  piano,  and  the  execution 
of  the  Symphony  was  excellent, — at  least  Nekhludof 
thought  so,  for  he  knew  and  loved,  that  symphony.  As 
he  listened  to  the  beautiful  Andante,  he  felt  a  tickling  in 
his  nose  from  suppressed  tears  of  admiration  for  himself 
and  his  own  virtues.  Thanking  his  hostess  for  the  great 
pleasure,  from  which  he  had  so  long  been  debarred,  he 
was  about  to  take  his  leave  when  the  daughter  of  the 
hostess  walked  up  to  him  and,  blushing  but  with  a  deter 
mined  look,  said: 

"  You  were  asking  about  my  children.  Would  you  like 
to  see  them  ?" 

"  She  thinks  every  one  wants  to  see  her  children,"  said 
her  mother,  smiling  at  her  daughter's  charming  artless- 
ness.  "Perhaps  the  Prince  may  not  care  for  children." 

"  But  I  certainly  do,  and  am  deeply  interested,"  replied 
Nekhludof,  touched  by  this  absorbing  mother  love  with  its 
craving  for  sympathy.  "Please  let  me  see  them." 

"So  you  are  taking  the  Prince  to  see  the  babies?" 
shouted  the  General  from  the  card-table,  where  he  sat 
playing  cards  with  the  merchant,  his  son-in-law,  and  the 
aide-de-camp.  "  Go  pay  your  tribute." 

The  young  woman,  evidently  quite  excited  at  the 
thought  that  her  children  were  to  be  displayed  to  a  stranger, 
walked  swiftly  ahead  of  Nekhludof,  leading  the  way  into 
the  inner  apartments.  In  the  high-studded  room,  with  its 
white  wall-paper  and  lighted  by  a  small  lamp  with  a  dark 
shade  over  it,  were  two  cribs,  and  between  them  dressed 
in  a  long  white  cape  sat  the  nurse ;  she  had  a  good-natured 
face  and  the  high  cheek-bones  of  a  Siberian.  She  rose 
and  bowed. 


266  RESURRECTION 

"That's  my  Kdtya,"  said  the  mother,  rearranging  a 
blue  bedspread,  crocheted  in  stripes,  from  beneath  which 
one  dainty  white  foot  was  peeking.  "  Isn't  she  a  perfect 
darling?  She  is  just  two  years  old." 

"  Charming." 

"  And  this  is  Vassiuk,  as  grandfather  calls  him.  Quite 
a  different  type.  A  Siberian,  don't  you  think  so  ?" 

"  A  fine  fellow,"  said  Nekhludof,  as  he  stooped  to  look 
at  the  chubby  youngster,  lying  flat  on  his  stomach,  fast 
asleep. 

"Do  you  really  think  so?"  asked  the  mother,  with  a 
significant  smile. 

Nekhludof  recalled  the  chains,  the  shaven  heads,  the 
blows,  the  debauchery,  the  dying  Kryltzof,  Katusha  and 
all  her  past,  and  he  felt  envious,  for  he,  too,  longed  for 
just  such  joy  as  this,  pure  and  refined  as  it  seemed  to  him 
now. 

Nekhludof  praised  the  children  over  and  over  again,  till 
even  the  eager  mother,  drinking  in  his  words,  felt  her  heart 
swell  with  pride.  When  he  followed  her  back  into  the 
drawing-room,  he  found  the  Englishman  already  waiting 
for  him  that  they  might  drive  together  to  the  jail  as  they 
had  agreed  to  do.  Taking  a  final  leave  of  their  hosts,  old 
and  young,  Nekhludof  and  the  Englishman  went  out  on 
the  porch  of  the  General's  residence.  The  weather  had 
changed.  It  was  snowing  in  thick,  large  flakes  and  the 
snow  had  already  covered  the  streets,  the  roofs,  the  trees 
in  the  garden,  the  entrance,  the  horse's  back,  and  the  top 
of  the  cab.  The  Englishman  had  his  own  carriage,  and 
after  directing  his  coachman  to  go  to  the  jail,  Nekhludof 
took  his  cab,  and  with  an  oppressive  sense  of  perform 
ing  an  unpleasant  duty,  followed  him  along  the  snowy 
road,  over  which  the  wheels  revolved  without  noise  but 
not  without  difficulty. ' 


RESURRECTION  267 


XXV. 

IN  spite  of  the  white  mantle  that  now  covered  the  walls, 
the  porch,  and  the  roof  of  the  jail,  in  spite  of  its  brightly 
lighted  windows,  the  sentinels,  and  the  lantern  at  the 
gate,  it  looked  to  Nekhludof  even  more  gloomy  than  it  had 
looked  in  the  morning  by  daylight. 

The  imposing  Inspector  came  out  to  the  gate,  and  after 
reading  the  permit  given  to  Nekhludof  and  the  English 
man,  shrugged  his  broad  shoulders  in  surprise;  but  obey 
ing  the  order  he  invited  the  visitors  to  follow  him.  He  es 
corted  them  first  through  the  yard  to  a  door  on  the  right, 
and  then  they  mounted  the  stairs  that  led  into  the  office. 
Inviting  them  to  take  seats  he  asked  them  what  he  could 
do  for  them,  and  when  Nekhludof  expressed  a  wish  to  see 
Maslova,  he  sent  a  warden  to  fetch  her;  then  he  prepared 
himself  to  answer  the  questions  which  the  Englishman, 
with  the  aid  of  Nekhludof  as  an  interpreter,  began  to  ask 
him :  "  How  many  persons  was  this  jail  meant  to  hold  ? 
How  many  are  here  now  ?  How  many  men,  women,  and 
children  ?  How  many  are  sentenced  to  hard  labor,  how 
many  are  exiles,  and  how  many  followed  them  of  their  own 
free  will  ?  How  many  are  sick  ?" 

Nekhludof  translated  the  questions  of  the  Englishman 
and  the  replies  of  the  Inspector,  hardly  conscious  of  their 
significance,  so  agitated  was  he  by  the  expectation  of  the 
impending  interview.  When,  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence 
which  he  was  translating  for  the  Englishman,  he  heard 
approaching  footsteps  and  saw  the  door  of  the  office  open, 
and  when,  as  had  happened  many  times  before,  the  warden 
came  in  followed  by  Katusha  in  her  prison  garb,  her  head 
tied  up  in  a  kerchief,  he  felt  a  sinking  sensation. 

"  I  want  to  live.  I  want  a  family,  children  of  my  own, 
and  to  live  like  other  men,"  flashed  across  his  mind,  just 
as  with  a  quick  step  and  downcast  eyes  Maslova  came  into 
the  room. 


*68  RESURRECTION 

As  he  rose  and  took  a  few  steps  towards  her,  he  saw  that 
her  face  was  stern  and  unfriendly.  It  was  the  expression 
he  remembered  when  she  had  reproached  him.  She 
raised  and  lowered  her  eyes  and  turned  pale,  and  her 
fingers  nervously  twisted  the  edge  of  the  jacket. 

"Have  you  been  told  that  your  pardon  has  been 
granted?" 

"Yes,  the  Inspector  told  me  about  it." 

"So  when  the  document  arrives  you  will  be  able  to 
settle  where  you  like.  We  shall  think  it  over " 

She  interrupted  him  hastily. 

"There  is  nothing  to  think  over;  I  shall  follow  Vladimir 
Vassflievitch  wherever  he  chooses  to  go." 

In  spite  of  her  excitement  she  spoke  quickly  and  dis 
tinctly,  as  though  she  had  learned  a  lesson,  and  looked  di 
rectly  into  Nekhliidof's  eyes. 

"Indeed?"  said  Nekhliidof. 

"Well,  Dmitri  Ivdnovitch,  if  he  wants  me  to  live  with 
him  — "  she  paused  and  corrected  herself,  "wants  me 
to  be  with  him —  I  ought  to  consider  myself  very  lucky. 
What  more  could  I  expect- ?" 

"  One  of  two  things,  either  she  loves  Simonson  and  has 
never  appreciated  the  sacrifice  which  I  imagined  I  was 
making  for  her  sake,  or  she  continues  to  love  me  even 
while  she  refuses  me  and  'burns  her  ships'  by  uniting  her 
lot  with  Simonson's,"  thought  Nekhliidof.  He  felt 
ashamed  of  himself  and  it  made  him  blush. 

"  Of  course,  if  you  love  him,"  he  said. 

"What's  the  odds  whether  I  do  or  not?  I  am  past 
that  sort  of  thing.  And,  besides,  Vladimir  Ivdnovitch 
is  a  different  kind  of  man." 

"Yes,  of  course,"  began  Nekhludof,  "he  is  a  remarkable 
man,  and  I  think  — "  She  interrupted  him  again  as 
though  she  feared  lest  he  might  say  too  much,  or  that  she 
would  not  have  a  chance  to  say  everything  she  had  in 
tended  to  say. 

"  You  must  forgive  me,  Dmitri  Ivdnovitch,  if  I  am  not 


RESURRECTION  269 

doing  what  you  wish  me  to  do,"  she  said,  looking  into  his 
eyes  with  that  mysterious  squinting  look  of  hers.  "  This 
seems  to  be  the  best  way  out  of  it.  You  have  your  own 
life  to  live." 

She  was  only  repeating  what  he  had  just  been  saying  to 
himself,  but  now  he  felt  quite  differently. 

"  I  never  expected  this,"  he  said. 

"What  good  does  it  do  for  you  to  live  here  and  suffer? 
You  have  suffered  enough  already." 

"  I  have  not  suffered.  I  have  been  happy  and  I  want  to 
go  on  serving  you." 

"  We  need  nothing,"  she  said,  and  looked  up  at  Nekhlti- 
dof.  "You  have  already  done  a  great  deal  for  me.  If 
it  hadn't  been  for  you  —  "  she  was  about  to  say  something 
more,  but  her  voice  quivered. 

"You  are  the  last  person  to  give  thanks  to  me,"  said 
Nekhliidof. 

"  What's  the  use  for  us  to  square  accounts  ?  God  will 
do  that  for  us,"  she  said,  and  her  black  eyes  shone  with  the 
tears  that  rushed  into  them. 

"  What  a  good  woman  you  are!"  he  exclaimed. 

"  I  ?  A  good  woman !"  she  answered  through  her  tears, 
and  a  pitiful  smile  lighted  up  her  face. 

"Are  you  ready?"  asked  the  Englishman. 

"In  a  moment,"  said  Nekhiiidof,  and  asked  her  about 
Kryltzdf. 

She  became  calm  and  quickly  told  what  she  knew. 
Rryltz6f's  journey  had  weakened  him  and  he  had  been 
placed  in  the  hospital  at  once.  Marya  Pavlovna  was  very 
anxious  and  had  asked  to  be  allowed  to  stay  with  him  as  a 
hospital  nurse,  but  was  refused. 

"  May  I  go  now  ?"  she  asked,  noticing  that  the  English 
man  was  waiting. 

"I  will  not  say  good-by.  I  will  see  you  again,"  said 
Nekhliidof,  holding  out  his  hand. 

"Forgive  me,"  she  said  in  a  whisper.  Their  eyes  met, 
and  by  her  peculiar  squinting  look,  her  pathetic  smile,  and 


370  RESURRECTION 

the  tone  of  her  voice  in  which  she  said,  not  "  Good-by " 
but  "Forgive  me,"  Nekhliidof  understood  that  the  second 
of  his  two  suppositions  was  the  real  cause  of  her  decision, 
—  that  she  loved  him,  and  knew  that  by  uniting  their  lives 
she  would  ruin  his;  therefore  she  released  him  by  re 
maining  with  Simonson  and  was  now  rejoicing  that  she 
had  accomplished  her  purpose  and  yet  suffering  because 
she  had  to  part  with  him. 

She  pressed  his  hand  and,  quickly  turning,  left  the 
room.  Nekhliidof  was  now  ready  to  go,  but  glancing  at 
the  Englishman  he  saw  him  still  writing  in  his  note -book. 
Not  wishing  to  disturb  him,  Nekhliidof  took  a  seat  on  the 
wooden  settle  behind  the  wall  and  a  great  weariness  came 
over  him.  It  was  not  the  weariness  one  feels  after  a  sleep 
less  night  of  travel  or  excitement,  — he  was  simply  tired  of 
life.  He  leaned  on  the  back  of  the  seat,  closed  his  eyes, 
and  at  once  fell  into  a  deep,  heavy  slumber. 

"  Would  you  also  like  to  see  the  prisoners'  cells  ?"  asked 
the  Inspector. 

Nekhliidof  awoke  and  was  surprised  to  find  himself 
there.  The  Englishman  had  finished  his  minutes  and 
was  ready  to  visit  the  cells.  Nekhltidof,  weary  and  in 
different,  followed  him. 

XXVI. 

HAVING  passed  the  ante-room  and  an  extremely  mal 
odorous  corridor  which  served  also  as  an  outhouse,  the 
Inspector,  the  Englishman,  and  Nekhliidof,  escorted  by 
wardens,  entered  the  first  cell,  that  of  the  prisoners  who 
were  sentenced  to  hard  labor.  Here  all  were  already  ly 
ing  in  their  bunks,  which  were  arranged  in  the  middle  of 
the  room.  There  were  about  seventy  men.  They  slept 
head  to  head  and  side  by  side.  When  the  visitors  entered 
all  jumped  up  and,  clanking  their  chains,  stood  beside 
their  bunks,  their  half-shaven  heads  shining  in  the  light. 
Only  two  remained  lying  in  their  bunks.  One  was  a 


RESURRECTION  271 

young  man  with  a  flushed  face,  evidently  feverish,  the 
other  an  old  man  who  groaned  incessantly. 

The  Englishman  asked  how  long  the  young  man  had 
been  ill,  and  was  told  by  the  Inspector  that  he  had  been 
taken  ill  that  morning,  but  that  the  old  fellow  had  had 
stomach  trouble  for  some  time;  there  was  no  room  for  him 
in  the  hospital,  he  said,  as  that  was  already  overcrowded. 
The  Englishman  shook  his  head  disapprovingly  and  said 
that  he  would  like  to  speak  a  few  words  to  these  men,  and 
asked  Nekhludof  to  translate  for  him.  It  appeared  that 
the  Englishman  had  two  objects  in  view  —  to  describe 
the  prisons  and  places  of  exile  in  Siberia  and  to  preach  Sal 
vation  through  Faith  and  Redemption. 

"  Tell  them  that  Christ  loves  and  pities  them.  If  they 
believe  this  they  will  be  saved."  While  he  was  talking,  all 
the  prisoners  stood  beside  their  bunks  with  their  arms  at 
their  sides.  "Tell  them  that  it  is  all  in  this  book,"  he 
went  on.  "  Can  any  of  them  read  ?" 

There  were  over  twenty  who  could  read.  The  English 
man  took  out  of  his  bag  a  few  bound  copies  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  several  strong,  muscular  hands  with 
blackened  finger  nails  were  stretched  forth  from  under 
the  sleeves  of  their  coarse  shirts,  struggling  to  reach  the 
books.  He  left  two  Testaments  in  this  room  and  went 
into  the  next. 

The  same  condition  of  things  prevailed  there,  —  the 
same  close  atmosphere  and  stench.  As  elsewhere,  an 
ikon  was  hung  between  the  two  windows  and  the  tub 
stood  on  the  left  hand  of  the  door;  the  prisoners  were 
packed  as  closely  side  by  side;  they  also  sprang  up  and 
stood  motionless;  here  also  three  men  remained  lying 
down.  Two  of  them  made  an  effort  to  rise,  but  sat  down 
on  the  edge  of  their  bunks,  and  one  did  not  even  turn  his 
head  to  look  at  the  newcomers.  These  men  also  were  ill. 
The  Englishman  made  the  same  remarks  he  had  made  in 
the  other  cell  and  left  the  two  Testaments. 

Four  men  were  ill  in  the  third  cell.     The  Englishman 


272 


RESURRECTION 


asked  why  the  sick  men  were  not  all  put  together,  and 
was  told  that  they  did  not  wish  it  themselves.  Their  dis 
eases  were  not  contagious  and  the  doctor's  assistant 
treated  them  and  took  care  of  them. 

A  voice  was  heard  to  say,  "  He  has  not  been  here  for 
two  weeks." 

The  Inspector  made  no  reply  but  led  the  visitors  into 
the  next  cell.  Once  more  the  doors  were  thrown  open  and 
all  rose  in  silence,  and  again  the  Englishman  distributed 
the  Testaments.  It  was  the  same  in  the  fifth  and  sixth 
cells,  on  the  right  and  on  the  left  of  the  corridor. 

Then  they  went  into  the  cells  of  the  exiles,  from  the  ex 
iles  to  those  sentenced  by  the  Commune,  and  from  there 
to  those  who  followed  of  their  own  accord.  It  was  the 
same  everywhere.  Cold,  hungry,  idle,  diseased,  and 
humiliated  men  under  lock  and  key  were  exhibited  like 
wild  beasts. 

Having  distributed  the  regulation  number  of  Testa 
ments,  the  Englishman  had  no  more  to  give  and  nothing 
more  to  say.  The  distressing  sights  and  the  stifling  air 
had  diminished  even  his  ardor,  and  he  only  said  "All 
right"  to  the  Inspector's  explanation  about  the  prisoners 
in  each  cell. 

Nekhliidof  walked  on  as  if  in  a  dream,  lacking  the  en 
ergy  to  go  away,  and  still  in  the  same  hopeless  state  of 
weariness  and  dejection. 

XXVII. 

IN  one  of  the  cells,  among  the  exiles,  Nekhliidof  recog 
nized  to  his  surprise  the  strange  old  man  he  had  met  at 
the  ferry.  Shriveled  and  ragged,  with  nothing  but  a  dirty, 
tattered,  ash -colored  shirt  on  his  back  and  trousers  of  the 
same  color,  bare-footed,  he  sat  on  the  floor  beside  his  bunk 
and  looked  inquiringly  at  the  newcomers.  His  emaciated 
body,  visible  through  the  rents  of  his  shirt,  looked  feeble 
and  miserable,  but  the  expression  of  his  face  was  even 


RESURRECTION  273 

more  animated  and  self-centered  than  it  had  been  when  he 
was  on  the  raft.  All  the  convicts  jumped  up  just  as  they 
did  in  the  other  cells  and  stood  at  "attention"  when  the 
Inspector  came  in.  The  old  man  alone  remained  seated. 
His  eyes  sparkled  and  he  frowned  ominously. 

"Up  with  you!"  cried  the  Inspector. 

The  old  man  never  stirred  and  only  smiled  disdainfully. 

"Thy  servants  are  standing  before  thee.  The  seal 
of — "  muttered  the  old  man,  pointing  to  the  forehead  of 
the  Inspector. 

"What  — "  roared  the  Inspector  threateningly,  and 
moved  towards  him. 

"  I  know  this  man,"  Nekhliidof  made  haste  to  say  to  the 
Inspector.  "What  is  he  locked  up  for?" 

"  The  police  sent  him  because  he  had  no  passport.  We 
ask  them  to  keep  them,  but  they  go  on  sending  them,"  re 
plied  the  Inspector,  looking  angrily  at  the  old  man  from 
the  corner  of  his  eyes. 

"  I  see  that  you  also  belong  to  the  Army  of  Antichrist," 
said  the  old  man,  addressing  Nekhludof. 

"No,  I  am  only  a  visitor,"  replied  Nekhliidof. 

"Then  you  have  come  to  take  a  look  at  the  way  Anti 
christ  tortures  people  ?  Take  your  fill  of  it.  He's  got 
them  locked  up  in  a  cage,  a  whole  army  of  them.  They 
ought  to  be  earning  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  brows 
and  he  has  locked  them  up  like  swine  and  feeds  them  in 
their  idleness  until  they  become  like  beasts." 

"What  is  he  saying?"  asked  the  Englishman. 

Nekhliidof  told  him  that  the  old  man  was  blaming  the 
Inspector  for  keeping  men  hi  prison. 

"Ask  him  what  he  thinks  ought  to  be  done  with  men 
who  refuse  to  obey  the  law,"  said  the  Englishman. 

Nekhliidof  translated  the  question. 

The  old  man  grinned,  showing  his  teeth. 

"The  law!"  he  repeated  contemptuously.  "He  has 
robbed  everybody,  stolen  all  the  land,  and  all  the  property 
that  belonged  to  other  men  he  has  taken  for  himself, 

VOL.   II. — J  8 


274  RESURRECTION 

drowned  all  who  opposed  him,  and  then  written  laws  for 
bidding  men  to  rob  or  to  kill.  He  should  have  made  the 
laws  first." 

Nekhliidof  translated.  The  Englishman  smiled. 
"But  ask  him  what  ought  to  be  done  with  thieves  and 
murderers  now?" 

Again  Nekhludof  interpreted  the  question.  The  old 
man  frowned  in  displeasure. 

"You  tell  him  to  take  off  the  seal  of  Antichrist  from 
himself,  then  there  will  be  no  thieves  nor  murderers. 
Just  tell  him  that." 

"He  is  crazy,"  said  the  Englishman,  when  Nekhludof 
translated  to  him  the  old  man's  words,  and  shrugging  his 
shoulders  he  turned  and  went  out. 

"  Just  attend  to  yourself;  let  them  alone.  Every  man  is 
his  own  master.  The  Lord  knows  who  is  to  be  punished 
and  who  is  to  be  forgiven,  we  are  ignorant,"  said  the  old 
man.  "  Be  your  own  master  and  you  will  need  no  other. 
Go  on,  go  on,"  he  said  to  Nekhludof  with  an  angry  frown 
and  sparkling  eyes.  "You've  seen  now  how  the  servants 
of  Antichrist  feed  the  lice  with  the  bodies  of  men.  Go 
along,  I  say." 

When  Nekhludof  stepped  into  the  entry  the  English 
man  and  the  Inspector  stood  beside  the  open  door  of  an 
empty  cell  and  the  former  was  asking  about  the  use  to 
which  it  was  put.  The  Inspector  explained  that  it  was 
the  morgue.  "  Oh !"  said  the  Englishman,  when  Nekhlu 
dof  had  translated  the  Inspector's  reply,  and  he  expressed 
a  wish  to  go  in. 

It  was  an  ordinary  small  cell.  A  tiny  lamp  was  nailed 
to  the  wall  and  feebly  illuminated  from  a  corner  the  con 
tents  of  the  cell,  —  a  few  sacks,  and  logs  of  wood,  and  on 
the  bunks  to  the  right  four  corpses.  The  first  was  clothed 
in  a  coarse  linen  shirt  and  a  pair  of  trousers.  It  was  that 
of  a  large  man  with  a  small  pointed  beard  and  with  his 
head  half  shaven.  The  body  had  already  stiffened;  the 
bluish  hands  had  evidently  been  crossed  on  the  breast,  but 


RESURRECTION  275 

were  now  unclasped;  the  feet  also  had  separated  and  were 
sticking  out  in  different  directions.  Beside  him  was  the 
body  of  an  old  woman  in  a  white  skirt  with  a  small, 
shriveled,  yellow  face,  a  sharp  nose  and  a  thin,  short 
braid  of  hair.  Then  came  the  body  of  a  man  clothed  in 
something  purple.  The  color  seemed  familiar  to  Nekhlii- 
dof.  He  went  nearer  and  looked  at  it.  A  short,  thin, 
pointed  beard  turned  upward,  a  firm,  handsome  nose,  a 
high,  white  forehead,  thin,  curling  hair.  .  .  .  He  recog 
nized  all  these  familiar  features  and  could  not  believe  his 
eyes.  It  was  but  yesterday  that  he  had  seen  that  counte 
nance,  excited,  angry,  and  suffering.  Now  it  was  placid, 
beautiful,  and  awe-inspiring.  Yes,  it  was  Kryltz6f,  or  at 
least  the  remnant  of  his  material  existence.  "  Why  had  he 
suffered  ?  Why  had  he  lived  ?  I  wonder  if  he  knows  all 
about  it  now?"  thought  Nekhludof,  but  he  heard  no  an 
swer  to  his  questions,  nothing  but  the  silence  of  death 
.  .  .  and  he  began  to  feel  faint.  Without  bidding  the 
Englishman  good-by,  he  asked  the  Inspector  to  take  him 
into  the  yard,  and  feeling  the  need  of  being  alone,  to  think 
over  all  he  had  seen  and  heard  that  evening,  he  drove 
back  to  his  hotel. 

XXVIII. 

NEKHLUDOF  did  not  go  to  bed,  but  paced  up  and  down 
his  room.  His  affair  with  Katusha  had  come  to  an  end. 
She  no  longer  needed  him  and  that  made  him  feel  not  only 
melancholy,  but  a  great  deal  mortified.  But  the  cause 
of  his  present  distress  was  a  far  more  serious  and  impor 
tant  matter.  The  business  in  which  he  had  embarked 
was  not  only  unfinished  but  it  troubled  him  more  than  ever 
and  required  all  his  energy.  The  terrible  wrongs  which  he 
had  witnessed  during  this  period,  all  that  had  happened 
in  that  awful  prison,  particularly  the  sights  he  had  seen 
to-day,  the  cruelty  that  had  done  to  death  the  beloved 
Kryltzdf,  was  triumphant  and  reigned  supreme,  and  he 
saw  neither  the  opportunity  nor  the  means  of  overcoming 


276  RESURRECTION 

it.  In  imagination  he  beheld  these  hundreds  and  thou 
sands  of  degraded  men,  who  were  locked  up  in  a  foul  at 
mosphere  by  generals,  prosecuting  attorneys,  and  inspec 
tors,  who  were  perfectly  indifferent  to  their  sufferings;  he 
saw  the  old  man  who  had  denounced  them  and  whom  they 
called  insane,  and  then  among  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  the 
waxen  face  of  Kryltzof,  who  had  left  this  world  while  his 
heart  was  filled  with  bitterness  and  wrath.  And  the  same 
old  question  he  had  so  often  asked  himself,  "Am  I  the 
madman,  or  have  the  authorities  at  whose  bidding  all 
these  iniquitous  dealings  are  visited  upon  the  victims  lost 
then-  reason?"  arose  in  his  mind  with  renewed  force  and 
demanded  an  answer. 

Weary  in  mind  and  in  body,  he  seated  himself  on  the 
sofa  in  front  of  the  table  lighted  by  the  lamp  and  mechan 
ically  opened  the  Testament  which  the  Englishman  had 
given  him.  He  had  thrown  it  on  the  table,  when  he  was 
searching  for  something  in  his  pockets.  "They  tell  us 
that  the  solution  of  all  the  mysteries  of  life  may  be  found 
in  this  book,"  he  thought,  whereupon  he  opened  it  and 
proceeded  to  read: 


AT  the  same  time  came  the  disciples  unto  Jesus,  saying,  Who  is 
the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ? 

a  And  Jesus  called  a  little  child  unto  him,  and  set  him  in  the 
midst  of  them, 

3  And  said,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Except  ye  be  converted,  and 
become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

4  Whosoever  therefore  shall  humble  himself  as  this  little  child, 
the  same  is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

"Yes,  that  is  true,"  he  thought,  remembering  his  own 
experience,  how  calm  and  peaceful  he  had  always  felt 
after  he  had  humbled  himself. 

5  And  whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child  in  my  name  re- 
ceiveth  me. 

6  But  whoso  shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which  believe  in 
me,  it  were  better  for  him  that  a  mill-stone  were  hanged  about  his 
neck,  and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the  depths  of  the  sea. 


RESURRECTION  277 

"What  can  that  mean,  I  wonder?  'Whosoever  shall 
receive  ?'  And  where  is  he  to  receive  ?  And  what  does 
'in  my  name'  mean?"  he  asked  himself,  feeling 'that 
these  words  had  no  significance  for  him;  and  wRy  "the 
millstone  around  his  neck"  and  "  the  depths  of  the  sea"  ? 
No,  he  never  could  fathom  that.  It  all  seemed  obscure  to 
him.  He  recalled  now,  how  many  times  in  his  life  he  had 
begun  to  read  the  Gospels  and  every  time  the  obscurity  of 
the  parables  discouraged  him.  Then  he  read  the  seventh, 
eighth,  ninth,  and  tenth  verses  concerning  offenses,  and 
that  they  are  sure  to  come  into  the  world,  of  punishment 
by  the  casting  of  men  into  hell-fire  where  their  bodies  will 
be  consumed;  and  about  the  angels  of  these  little  ones, 
who  behold  the  face  of  the  Heavenly  Father.  "I  am 
sorry  that  it  is  not  more  intelligible,"  he  thought,  "and 
yet  one  feels  that  it  is  good." 

1 1  For  the  Son  of  man  is  come  to  save  that  which  was  lost. 

12  How  think  ye?  if  a  man  have  an  hundred  sheep,  and  one  of 
them  be  gone  astray,  doth  he  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine,  and 
goeth  into  the  mountains,  and  seeketh  that  which  is  gone  astray  ? 

13  And  if  so  be  that  he  find  it,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  rejoiceth 
more  of  that  sheep,  than  of  the  ninety  and  nine  which  went  not 
astray. 

14  Even  so  it  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven, 
that  one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish. 

"No,  it  is  not  the  will  of  the  Father  that  they  should 
perish,  and  yet  they  do  perish  by  the  hundreds  and 
thousands.  And  there  is  no  hope  of  saving  them,"  he 
thought. 

21  K  Then  came  Peter  to  him,  and  said,  Lord,  how  oft  shall  my 
brother  sin  against  me,  and  I  forgive  him  ?  till  seven  times  ? 

22  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  say  not  unto  thee,  Until  seven  times: 
but,  Until  seventy  times  seven. 

23  Therefore  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  likened  unto  a  certain 
king,  which  would  take  account  of  his  servants. 

24  And  when  he  had  begun  to  reckon,  one  was  brought  unto  him, 
which  owed  him  ten  thousand  talents. 

25  But  forasmuch  as  he  had  not  to  pay,  his  lord  commanded  bin* 


278  RESURRECTION 

to  be  sold,  and  his  wife,  and  children*  and  all  that  he  had,  and  pay- 
ment  to  be  made. 

26  The  servant  therefore  fell'down,  and  worshipped  him,  saying, 
Lord/haye^patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all. 

27  The*  ffre  lord  of  that  servant  was  moved  with  compassion, 
and  loosed  him,  and  forgave  him  the  debt. 

28  But  the  same  servant  went  out,  and  found  one  of  his  fellow- 
servants,  which  owed  him  an  hundred  pence:  and  he  laid  hands  on 
him,  and  took  him  by  the  throat,  saying,  Pay  me  that  thou  owest. 

29  And  his  fellow-servant  fell  down  at  his  feet,  and  besought  him, 
saying,  Have  patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all. 

30  And  he  would  not:  but  went  and  cast  him  into  prison,  till  he 
should  pay  the  debt. 

31  So  when  his  fellow-servants  saw  what  was  done,  they  were 
very  sorry,  and  came  and  told  unto  their  lord  all  that  was  done. 

32  Then  his  lord,  after  that  he  had  called  him,  said  unto  him,  O 
thou  wicked  servant,  I  forgave  thee  all  that  debt,  because  thou 
desiredst  me: 

33  Shouldest  not  thou  also  have  had  compassion  on  thy  fellow- 
servant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee? 

"But  can  that  be  all?"  he  exclaimed,  after  reading 
those  words.  And  an  inner  voice  replied,  "  Yes,  that  is 
all." 

Then  something  happened  to  Nekhliidof  that  often  does 
happen  to  men  who  are  trying  to  live  a  spiritual  life.  The 
thought  that  at  first  had  appeared  so  strange,  so  paradoxi 
cal,  even  laughable,  as  it  was  more  and  more  frequently 
confirmed  in  life,  now  suddenly  arose  before  him  as  an  in 
disputable  truth.  Now  he  found  it  easy  to  understand 
that  the  only  sure  means  of  salvation  from  the  terrible 
wrongs  which  mankind  endures  is  for  every  man  to 
acknowledge  himself  a  sinner  before  God,  and  therefore 
incapable  of  punishing  or  correcting  other  men.  It  had 
become  clear  to  him  now  that  the  terrible  wrongs  which 
he  had  witnessed  in  the  jails  and  halting-stations,  and  the 
calm  assurance  of  those  who  had  committed  them,  had 
originated  in  an  attempt  to  perform  an  impossible  work; 
being  wicked  themselves  they  proposed  to  correct  other 
wicked  men.  Vicious  men  undertook  to  punish  other 
men  equally  vicious  and  expected  to  accomplish  this  by 


RESURRECTION  279 

mechanical  means.  But  fHlthis  had  resulted  in  nothing, 
except  that  needy  and  greedy  men,  having  made  a  pro 
fession  of  punishment  and  correction,  had  not  only  be 
come  more  corrupt  than  their  victims,  but  had  even  taught 
the  latter  to  be  worse  than  they  were  before.  Now  he 
knew  the  origin  of  all  the  horrors  he  had  witnessed  and  he 
also  knew  where  to  find  the  remedy:  In  the  answer 
given  by  Christ  to  Peter  to  forgive  over  and  over  again 
everybody  and  forever,  never  to  grow  weary  in  forgiving, 
for  there  are  no  men  living  who  do  not  need  forgiveness, 
and  therefore  there  are  no  men  who  are  fit  to  correct  or 
punish  others. 

"Can  it  possibly  be  so  simple?"  said  Nekhludof  to 
himself,  and  yet  he  felt  sure  that  the  only  reason  why 
all  this  had  seemed  so  strange  to  him  at  first  was  because 
he  had  always  lived  under  the  influence  of  the  opposite 
line  of  argument,  but  now  he  realized  that  this  present 
ment  offered  not  only  a  theoretical  but  a  practical  solution 
of  the  question.  The  eternal  difficulty  as  to  what  shall  be 
done  with  evil-doers  no  longer  perplexed  him.  If  it  had 
ever  been  shown  that  punishment  improves  the  criminal 
and  diminished  crime,  there  might  be  some  sense  in  discuss 
ing  the  subject.  But  when  the  contrary  has  been  proved, 
and  when  it  has  become  evident  that  it  is  beyond  the 
power  of  one  class  of  men  to  correct  another  class,  then 
the  only  rational  solution  would  appear  to  be,  —  let  men 
abandon  the  attempt  to  control  their  fellow-beings,  for  it  is 
not  only  useless,  but  is  harmful.  For  many  centuries 
criminals  have  been  executed,  but  have  they  decreased  in 
numbers?  Not  at  all;  so  far  from  diminishing,  their 
numbers  have  been  greatly  increased  by  the  addition  of 
those  who  have  been  demoralized  by  punishments,  as 
well  as  by  the  criminal  judges,  prosecuting  attorneys, 
magistrates,  and  jailers  who  judge  and  punish  men. 
Now  Nekhliidof  understood  that  society  and  order  existed 
in  general,  not  because  of  the  influence  of  these  legalized 
criminals,  who  judge  and  punish  other  men,  but  because 


28o  RESURRECTION 

in  spite  of  all  their  depravity  there  are  still  men  who  really 
love  and  pity  each  other. 

Hoping  to  find  a  confirmation  of  this  belief,  NekhMdof 
began  to  read  the  Gospels  from  the  beginning.  After  read 
ing  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  which  always  touched  him 
deeply,  he  saw  to-day  for  the  first  time  not  only  those 
beautiful  abstract  thoughts  which  mostly  demand  ex 
aggerated  and  impossible  things,  but  clear,  simple,  and 
practical  commandments,  which  if  obeyed,  would  speedily 
establish  a  new  order  of  things  in  the  social  life  of  human 
ity.  Obedience  to  these  commands  is  entirely  possible, 
and  would  speedily  exclude,  not  only  all  the  violence  that 
so  revolted  Nekhludof,  but  would  also  establish  the 
Kingdom  of  God  upon  Earth,  which  is  the  greatest 
blessing  man  can  hope  to  attain. 

There  are  five  of  these  commandments :  First  Command 
ment  (Matthew  v.  21-26).  This  one  says  that  a  man 
must  not  only  commit  no  murder,  but  he  must  not  even  be 
angry  with  his  brother,  or  call  him  a  fool,  "  Raca,"  and  if 
he  should  quarrel  with  any  one,  he  must  be  reconciled 
with  him  before  he  offers  his  gift  to  God, — that  is  before 
praying. 

Second  Commandment  (Matthew  v.  27-32).  This 
was  that  a  man  must  not  only  abstain  from  committing 
adultery  but  must  even  avoid  enjoying  the  beauty  of  a 
woman,  but  if  he  has  ever  been  united  to  her,  he  must 
never  be  unfaithful  to  her. 

Third  Commandment  (Matthew  v.  33-37).  That  no 
man  must  seal  a  promise  with  an  oath. 

Fourth  Commandment  (Matthew  v.  38-42).  That 
man  must  not  only  refrain  from  returning  evil  for  evil, 
but  when  he  is  struck  on  one  cheek  he  must  turn  the  other; 
that  he  must  forgive  injuries  and  endure  them  with 
humility  and  never  refuse  to  serve  his  fellow-men. 

Fifth  Commandment  (Matthew  v.  43-48).  That  a 
man  must  not  only  refrain  from  hating  or  fighting  his 
enemies,  but  that  he  must  love,  help,  aad  serve  them. 


RESURRECTION  281 

Nekhliidof  sat  motionless,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
flame  of  the  burning  lamp.  Recalling  all  the  horrors  of 
human  life,  he  clearly  pictured  to  himself  what  it  might  be, 
if  men  were  brought  up  on  these  principles,  and  a  new  de 
light  took  possession  of  his  soul.  It  seemed  as  if,  after 
long  anxiety  and  suffering,  he  had  found  rest  at  last. 

He  never  slept  at  all  that  night,  and  as  happens  to  many 
persons  who  read  the  Gospels,  he  understood  for  the  first 
time  the  meaning  of  words  which  he  had  read  and  to 
which  he  had  listened  many  times  without  really  under 
standing  them;  as  a  sponge  absorbs  water,  so  he  absorbed 
the  important  and  joyful  news  this  book  contained. 
And  all  that  he  read  seemed  not  only  to  confirm  what  he 
had  known  before,  but  to  reveal  hidden  meanings  in  words 
which  had  been  familiar  to  him,  but  which  he  had  never 
actually  understood,  or  really  believed.  Now  he  not  only 
believed  and  realized  it  all,  but  he  felt  assured  that  if  a 
man  fulfills  these  commandments,  he  will  attain  the  high 
est  possible  good;  he  now  realized  and  believed  that  it  is 
a  man's  duty  to  obey  these  commandments;  that  in  this 
lies  the  only  reasonable  purpose  of  human  life,  and  that 
every  transgression  from  these  laws  is  an  error  that  brings 
punishment  in  its  wake.  This  was  the  result  of  all  the 
precepts  and  was  stated  with  special  clearness  in  the  par 
able  of  the  vineyard. 

The  husbandmen  fancied  that  the  master's  garden, 
which  they  were  sent  out  to  cultivate,  was  their  own 
property ;  that  all  it  contained  belonged  to  them,  and  that 
their  business  was  only  to  enjoy  life  in  this  garden, 
heedless  of  the  master  and  killing  those  who  reminded 
them  of  him  and  their  duties  towards  him. 

"We  do  the  same,"  thought  Nekhliidof.  "We  live  in 
the  belief  that  we  are  the  masters  of  our  own  lives  and 
that  they  were  given  us  for  our  own  enjoyment,  which  is  a 
palpable  absurdity.  If  we  have  been  sent  into  this  world, 
it  is  by  the  will  of  a  higher  power  and  for  some  wise 
purpose.  And  we  have  believed  it  right  to  live  only  for 


RESURRECTION 

our  own  satisfaction  and  the  natural  result  is,  that  we  feel 
aggrieved  like  the  workman  who  did  not  fulfill  the  will  of 
his  master  as  expressed  in  the  commandments.  If  one 
but  follows  these  commandments  the  Kingdom  of  God 
will  be  established  on  earth,  and  men  will  attain  the  high 
est  good  that  is  within  their  reach.  'Seek  ye  first  the 
Kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness,  and  all  these 
things  shall  be  added  unto  you.'  Here,  then,  is  the  busi 
ness  of  my  life.  One  work  has  just  ended  and  another 
is  about  to  begin." 

After  that  night  a  new  life  did  begin  for  Nekhludof ,  not 
because  he  entered  new  conditions,  but  because  all  the 
happenings  of  his  daily  life  assumed  a  different  aspect 
and  a  new  significance. 

The  future  alone  will  prove  how  this  new  stage  of  his 
life  will  end. 

Moscow,  December  12,  1899. 


LD  21A-50w-4,'59 
(A1724slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YC  71804 


